He was mostly gagged during the promotions, and made to keep a low profile so as not to add fuel to the already controversial sparks over his role as Alauddin Khilji. Now that the film is finally out, Ranveer Singh is making up for all those times of enforced silence!
A risk that paid off
The relief and sense of triumph is tangible when he says, “I am very happy with the reaction to my performance. I am relieved actually, because it was a very big risk for me to take. A part like this at this stage of my career, and especially with people advising me against it… They said it was too big a risk to play a villain. In our country, if they love the character, they love the actor and the opposite could happen.”
Becoming Khilji
He reveals the prep that went into the process… “I took 21 days and locked myself up in my house. I kind of isolated myself, marinated into the character because I can’t relate to Alauddin Khilji, I can’t relate to that level of manipulativeness, greed and ambition. I had to tap into dark experiences but his worldview is not something I can relate to also. I had to do a lot of hard work to generate that conviction in me. I kept working on my physique, my voice and the gait. I allowed Sanjay sir to free flow with my character. He is as much a creator of this character as I am. All credit to him.”
The darkness within
The actor would have you know that he has had his share of dark periods before Bollywood happened “I have had some life experiences that were quite dark. I can’t reveal too much because it is too personal but it is the stuff I have brushed under the carpet, so to speak; stuff that I have buried in my conscience, that I had to dig out in order to play this character. And it was not always pretty, which validates my apprehension… I knew how deep I had to go into this rabid hole. I would have had to go into this dark, black space; this abyss that could be dangerous for me. And it was… it took a toll on me.”