Ranbir Kapoor: Whatever I and Deepika say is misconstrued

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, who are on a publicity blitzkrieg for their upcoming film 'Tamasha', dropped into the mid-day office yesterday for a candid chat. Ranbir Kapoor, as usual, was honest and forthright, and had Deepika jumping to his defence every time questions about his last few duds were posed. At one point, an overwhelmed Ranbir told her that he would burst into tears if she continued indulging him.

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Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. Pic/Shadab Khan

The former flames, who have no qualms about pairing up professionally and lighting up the big screen with their sizzling chemistry, touched upon a lot of topics in an hourlong chat with hitlist.

Excerpts from the banter:

From exes to friends
Ranbir: A lot of people are linking what we are doing at promotional events to our personal history. Whatever we say is misconstrued. I am talking about Deepika because she is my co-star. Had I been promoting 'Besharam' (2013), I would be talking about Pallavi Sharda who was my co-star in that film, but everyone only wants to talk about the chemistry I share with Deepika.

Deepika: We have come to a stage in our lives where we have a lot of clarity about where we stand in each other's lives. Whatever we say will be turned into a headline. It has been this way ever since we got to know each other. But I have learnt to take things with a pinch of salt.

Ranbir: I don't know if there is any formula to exes being friends. But there is no negativity between us; we came to the sets without any baggage. A lot of credit for what you see between us on-screen goes to the director. In 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani' (2013), it was because of Ayan (Mukerji, director). Since he knows us personally, he knew how to build our characters and extract the emotions required for a particular scene. The same happened in case of 'Tamasha' because Imtiaz (Ali) also knows us well. Both of us have worked with him earlier. He has a mature energy and comes from an honest place, so we cannot fake anything with him.

Also read: Ranbir Kapoor 'wouldn't like' to call Deepika lucky charm

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone at the mid-day office. Pic/Onkar Devlekar

Journey in B-Town

Ranbir: Time has flown so fast. It has been a wonderful eight years of highs and lows; I still feel like a newcomer.

Deepika: For me, it has been an amazing journey. Coming from a sports family and having no idea of the industry, it was just my passion that has brought me here. I am willing to work hard. Every film has taught me something; so has every success and failure.

Also read: Ranbir Kapoor: I deserve criticism for my box-office failures

Hope to bounce back
Ranbir: I did not expect 'Bombay Velvet' to be such a disaster, but then every film has a fate of its own. There is a lot of expectations from 'Tamasha'. I cannot put parameters for failure and success, but right now I am almost back to square one - I had a string of hits and then three films back-to-back that didn't work. But I am grateful that people still repose trust in me. I am not doing films for the intelligent audience, but for everyone. But failure does impact your confidence. When someone pricks you, you bleed. If people out there have given their love to you, then you have to be ready to face their brickbats too. I don't regret having done any film. My debut film, 'Saawariya' (2007), was such a big disaster.

I consider 'Rockstar' (2011) as a milestone, but it was 'Wake Up Sid' (2009) that really got me going. My only regret is 'Roy' - not for myself, but for my friend (director Vikramjit Singh). I just had a special appearance and needed to shoot for 10 days. And I think I took it for granted. I really wish that I had worked on my character and discussed it at length with the director.

Deepika: Every actor goes through a phase when his/her films don't do well, but in Ranbir's case, it has been amplified. As if it were solely his responsibility. The questions have been asked for years. I have never come across any actor who has had to answer about his films not doing well for such a long time.

To Ranbir's credit, he has been dignified. But it is time we moved on. Ranbir was born to be an actor. He does not choose films to be a superhero; he wants to do films that tell an exciting story.

Cold war with Big B

Deepika: I have not commented on it earlier and won't now either. If I chose to celebrate Diwali with Amitji's family instead of heading home that evening, that explains everything.

Ranbir: When the Amitabh Bachchan episode came up, Deepika was affected. They shared a great working relation during Piku, but a misunderstanding was created. I do not know how she revived her equation with him, but we were all together at his house to celebrate Diwali.