“W hen it rains, it pours,” says actor Ranvir Shorey, who has two comedies coming up in the next few weeks.
“Both ‘Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi' and ‘Fatso' are ensemble films,” he clarifies modestly.
He plays the 'Fatso' directed by Rajat Kapoor and is one of the four central characters in Rakesh Mehta's “Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi”. It's never easy for an actor who is not a star to end up with the lead role in Bollywood. But this is something Ranvir has achieved on his own terms over the last few years with Rajat Kapoor's “Mithya” and the romantic comedy “Ugly Aur Pagli” with Mallika Sherawat.
Currently, taking a short break between shooting for the Salman Khan film “Ek Tha Tiger” and promotions of his new films, Ranvir talks about his career and the joys of spending time with his son Haroon (He's married to Konkana Sen).
Why is there a big divide between being an actor and being a star? How does this affect the kind of films you do as an actor?
The box office. Any actor who with his presence alone can draw money at the box office is a star, while an actor just contributes his bit to the film. As for me, filmmakers haven't been keen to cast me in roles meant for stars... Maybe because I started off as a comedian and a supporting actor. “Ugly Aur Pagli” could have been my foot in the door. It had the song and dance format, glamour, locations that were cinematic… “Mithya”, in complete contrast, was a niche film shot in real locations, with a real story and no glamour.
So what is it that has kept you going all these years? Did you plan this?
What has kept me going is I love this business. I don't know to do anything else. I am impulsive. I used to direct shows and fool around behind the camera at Channel [V] when it was still a music channel, working with Shashanka Ghosh and the late Shamim Desai who thought they should put my skills at fooling around to better use. So I started hosting shows, then theatre happened with “The Blue Mug”, more TV and films... I grew up making fun of Hindi movies, so I never saw myself in them.
You do take this business quite seriously. You gained all that weight for “Fatso”.
I did use a body suit for the belly because there was no way someone who as skinny as me could get the belly of a 150-kilo man. But from 72 kilos, I became 90 for the film. If someone was casting me against my basic body type, it's a dream scenario for any actor. To play someone who is not like you even in the physical sense... Most films like this use prosthetics on the face and arms but because it was a low-budget film, I just had to put on all the weight I could. I was also shooting for “Chandni Chowk to China” and “Ugly Aur Pagli” during that period. I took me another year to lose the weight once we were done with the shoot.
You seem to enjoy working with Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak.
We share common sensibilities; we are friends who have mutual respect and affection for each other. But we are not THAT much of a Bollywood clique in the sense that we come together only once in a while and have professional lives independent of each other.
How have marriage and fatherhood changed you?
Earlier, when I used to finish work, I would go out, hit a pub, spend time with friends. Today I go home to spend time with my son and watch him sleep. My evenings have changed... My mornings too have because I used to hate waking up. But when your kid walks over you and yanks your face, you still wake up smiling.
