The answer to ‘When did Ranveer Singh become the Ranveer Singh' could be this Sanjay Leela Bhansali firecracker of a romance. Singh plays Ram, but he's pretty much himself as the volcanic lover who's known for his tirelessness. He enters the frame in the infectious ‘Tatad Tatad' number in a purple shirt that comes off sooner than one can blink, and he owns the scene and chews the scenery with swag and sweat dripping from his chiselled and oiled chest. The hook step enjoys a life of its own, so does Singh as the hysterical Ram.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali envisioned this grand, epic saga all the way back in 2005, the dream stood true in 2015. Every frame was carefully designed, every movement meticulously planned. Singh walks the way only a king can and challenges an emperor to test his tenacity. He succeeds, no doubt. The thunderous background score further fuels Bajirao's valour. With the right actor backing the filmmaker's ambition, this sprawling love saga was extravagant from beginning till the end, if not extraordinary.
Ranveer Singh once said he was born to be a Rohit Shetty hero. This statement came true when he came on board as the leading man of this retelling of the Telugu hit, ‘Temper'. Here, Singh plays Inspector Sangram Bhalerao but it's hard to distinguish between these personalities that have so much in common. They don't speak, they roar, they don't smile, they guffaw. Singh arrives in pure Shetty style. Even if the sets of this action-drama are a far cry from the excessively vibrant homes in the ‘Golmaal' films, it's possible you'll spot more colours here than on Paint Brush. Right in his intro, you see red and yellow scarves flying in the air as he yells ‘Police'. The entire stretch of this sequence has Simmba eliminate one man after another in his (Read Ranveer Singh) vintage style. The man is enjoying himself, and so are the audiences.
Bhansali and Singh completed their trilogy with this giant of a film. Singh, this time, played a remorseless beast called Alauddin Khilji. This time too, the introduction happens in slow motion, and the frame makes way for this barbaric ruler. The actor attacked Khilji's psychotic demeanour with an unabashed attitude and owned all of his nuances. For all those who saw the film in 3D, Singh and Khilji together may have appeared more dangerous than they actually were.
For all the flashy machismo that occupied most of its screen time, Ali Abbas Zafar's directorial got one thing right, the entry of its heroes. Two kids atop a speeding train grow up as Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor right in the next shot, with the camera moving from their legs to their faces and chests. They run towards the camera in slow motion and crack a whacky, narcissistic smile as if enjoying the fact they have grown up and been introduced to the globe. This ode to the 70s gave a nostalgic rush only at this particular moment.
Zoya Akhtar can make heroes out of ordinariness. She does that with Murad in this musical drama. When we first see him, he's walking on the streets at midnight with his friend Moeen (Vijay Varma) to steal a car. Moeen leads the theft and Murad follows. Till this moment, Murad is a common man who has aims, ambitions, but no means. He's a victim of fate and circumstances but it's his passion for music that drives him towards something extraordinary. Rap becomes his means of communication and music his reason to live. A common man transforms into a hero, but someone who's one of us. A hero who's aiming for the skies but firmly attached to his roots. The title was a giveaway already.
Vikramaditya Motwane's ‘Lootera' uses both minimalism and music to create a meditative portrait of romance and heartbreak. Even while flirting with the idea of subterfuge, the filmmaker chooses restraint. When we meet Singh's Varun Srivastav for the first time, he's riding a bike that meets with an accident. His eyes are frozen on Pakhi (Sonakshi Sinha). These two are separated by contrasting personalities and united by deep silences. Their romance may have concluded with a tragedy, the lenses of Mahendra Shetty's camera, giving this tale the scale and style it deserved, leave us with a smile.
The first introduction shot in the first film when the world will see you for the first time is always special and unforgettable. This was the debut of the actor and also the director. Maneesh Sharma's small-town romantic comedy, which later bloomed (or ballooned) into a genre in itself, saw Singh as Bittoo, an idler who's smitten by the business idea of wedding planning. He's smitten because he refuses to harvest sugarcanes with his father in his village. As the ‘Tarkeebein' song plays in the background, we see this unheroic hero smiling as the sunlight falls on his rugged face. It's a terrific idea to introduce a hero with a ray of sunshine, especially if it's his first.
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