Will he soar this time?

Underrated but unfettered, Ranvir Shorey hopes to break the jinx with “Titli”

Ranvir Shorey. Photo: Special arrangement

“The industry doesn’t know where to slot me. It is a great thing for an actor but a handicap for a healthy bank balance,” remarks Ranvir Shorey as we get down to dissect his career choices. “I never wanted to be a movie star. Having started as an assistant director and then moving on to host television shows, I know how the system works,” says Ranvir, who despite solid performances in films like Mithya and Fatso , has not been able to get over the tag of the guy who provides comic relief.

Son of a failed film producer (K.D. Shorey), Ranvir wanted to prove himself in the industry but on his own terms. After a few films he went to study theatre in New York. “I believe in the dictum that nobody gets more than he is destined to. Kismat se zyada kisi ko nahin milta . The fact that people are writing roles with me in mind gives me immense satisfaction.”

He is referring to Vikram, the carjacker in

Titli that director Kanu Behl wrote for Ranvir. “It is a complex and layered character which you can find in flesh and blood around you. It is a kind of film that you don’t do for pay check.” The result being he spent days in Sangam Vihar, Asia’s biggest unauthorised colony, where

Titli was shot over 40 days in the heat of June. “The sweat and grime reflect on the screen.”

Based on a real life carjacker

Titli is about a violent family, whose youngest member wants to break free from the hold of his big brother played by Ranvir. “I am the face of patriarchy in the film. In our films there is lot of idealism and mythical symbolism when it comes to depiction of family. Even if they subvert they return to the normative by the end because they don’t want to dislodge the so-called value system. The film breaks free from that moral trapping of filmy families. In real life brothers do fight over money. The kind of lop-sided development that we are seeing in cities, it is hard to hold on to tradition in its true form. It is not just about Vikram. It also reflects in the kind of mutually exploitative relationship Titli has with his wife Neelu.”

Ranvir finds it hard to explain his process for the role. “I told myself that Vikram has inherited traits from his father and the quiet Pradeep (played by Amit Sial) has genes from his mother.” But director Kanu Behl opens a window. He lets out his trade secret while talking about Ranvir. “He is an intelligent man but Vikram is a kind of person who survives on a daily basis. He doesn’t see the bigger picture. Ranvir is not that kind of person. So what we did was we never told him how he is faring. He wanted to know and this curiosity of grappling with the unknown reflects in his performance.” Kanu finds Ranvir highly underrated. “I have seen some of his performances on stage and I was blown away.” Producer Dibakar Banerjee says, “Creative people like Ranvir are always punished by the industry because they don’t conform to the archetypical definitions of heroes and villains that the industry offers. I hope things will change for him after Titli .”

On his part, Ranvir has not refused mainstream films because he doesn’t believe in classifications. “A good actor can be part of any genre and a good actor also needs money to survive,” he offers both the creative and practical side of the situation. “But I can say with conviction that apart from

Singh is King none of the characters that I played in these big budget ventures were hollow. I particularly like

Ek Tha Tiger kind of mainstream cinema.”

He reminds that Titli is his third film with the Yash Raj banner. “In Aaja Nachle I was Madhuri’s fiancé. In Ek Tha Tiger I was a spy and in Titli I am a carjacker. See even Yash Raj banner doesn’t know how to typecast me,” his caustic sense of humour surfaces all over again.