The singularity of Ranveer Singh in Bollywood

Ranveer Singh in 'Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls'. He has recently started sporting a double-ponytail look, making him an all-rounder in embracing non-binary fashion fluidity, which also of course includes monochromatic suits.

At 37, Ranveer Singh is the rarest of pop confections. Before him, Bollywood hadn’t seen a star whose love affair with Gucci is as intense as his role-prep, both of which can’t parallel his effusive odes to his wife Deepika Padukone, a star as influential, talented and radiant as he, if not more.

He also aces the puttar act often, notably in his latest reality show on Netflix, Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls, in which he upped his breathless susurrations of “Jai Shiv Shambhu” to escape the wrath of snakes with loud, anthemic repetitions of “Jai Bajrang Bali” to bump himself up the rappel to reach the pinnacle. All this while, during the one-hour show, Singh relentlessly regurgitated the purpose behind this dangerous journey: to get a flower for his lady love.

In his carefully crafted high-voltage brand persona, chivalry and metrosexuality co-exist—a potential heartthrob for cisgender women as well as anybody on the GBTQ spectrum who likes men. He can ooze cowboy masculinity one day and daintily mimic Alia Bhatt’s twirls in Gangubai Kathiawadi songs the next day.

With 20 films, four Filmfare awards, a two-year-old production company named Maa Kasam Films, a record label Incink that promotes rappers from across India, and a fashionist who can inspire the best of designers and stylists, Singh’s singularity in Bollywood defies categorisations.

Alia Bhatt in episode 1 of 'Koffee with Karan Season 7', streaming on Disney+Hotstar." width="770" height="433" /> Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in episode 1 of 'Koffee with Karan Season 7'.

“I’m Ranveer Singh, and I am the Lamborghini of Men,” Singh once announced at an awards function. The Lambo logo is a charging bull—so did he mean he was a man of strength, determination and the ability or at least a desire to disrupt everything that comes in his way? If he did, he probably wasn’t far off in self-estimation. He knows how to hold an audience in his roles as well as in talk shows and interviews. In the first episode of Koffee with Karan Season 7 last Sunday, Singh appeared with Alia Bhatt and mimicked Hrithik Roshan, called Uorfi Javed (a social media paparazzi-friendly personality known to wear bras made out of tarpaulin and other such fashion innovations) “a fashion icon” besides maintaining a perfect balance between political correctness and verbal gimmickry.

So what mountains did Singh climb to reach this pinnacle?

Born Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (he dropped his last name because, by his own admission, it wasn’t that saleable and sleek a name), his grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan. His only industry bloodline is with maternal second cousin Sonam Kapoor. He studied theatre and writing in a university in Indiana, US, worked a few years in advertising as a copywriter in Mumbai, worked as an assistant director, but left it tall to pursue acting. He would go for all kinds of auditions, and refuse all minor roles. Aditya Chopra launched him in Band Baaja Baarat in 2010, which also got him the Best Male Debut award at the Filmfare Awards. Since then, he has played a gruffy, testosterone-fuelled, bisexual villain in Padmavat (2016), a slum rapper on the cusp of success in Gully Boy (2019), and played Kapil Dev in '83 (2021). His last film, Jayeshbhai Zordaar is a standard melodramatic Bollywood message film that nails patriarchy and upholds rights of the girl child. Singh will next be in a Rohit Shetty comedy called Cirkus (possibly a fool-proof BO jangler), a Karan Johar comedy Rocky Aur Rani Ki Amar Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt and a Hindi language remake of Shankar’s Tamil film Anniyan.

The aspirational brand credo that Singh continues to chisel and transform incessantly, especially for post-millennials—a Bollywood man who is everything and anything, and flamboyantly so—ensures he is always in the news. His luxury-meter is over the top: a Lamborghini Urus Pearl Capsule, Aston Martin Rapide S, Mercedes-Benz GLS, Land Rover Range Rover Vogue, and Jaguar XJ L comprise the cream of his automobile collection; his fashion tastes veer from baroque Versace shirts to customised neon-pink shararas, Franck Muller wristwatches, velvet pantsuits and a profusion of Gucci. He has recently started sporting a double-ponytail look, making him an all-rounder in embracing non-binary fashion fluidity, which also of course includes monochromatic suits.

Singh is a self-confessed fan of Govinda; he has said that Govinda’s character in Raja Babu is his “spirit character”, whatever that could mean. “I’d like a sea-facing villa in Goa with a swimming pool where I can cook, paint, watch movies and do yoga. And I’d like to be surrounded by my many children,” he recently said in an interview.

There is no other star in Bollywood who can embody such a dizzying spectrum of contradictions and passions. How far he can sustain this heterogeneity will depend on how much he evolves as an actor and how adroitly he manages his stardom. So far, he makes both seem quite unchallenging.