Back in 2010, Yash Raj Films unleashed one of Bollywood’s most electric performers — Ranveer Singh. Fifteen years after his debut in YRF’s Band Baaja Baaraat, Ranveer still carries the same infectious energy, if not more, and continues to deliver critically acclaimed performances. But the story of how Ranveer landed his dream debut is straight out of a full-blown filmi fantasy — Ranbir Kapoor saying no, Ranveer, a hustling outsider, walking in at the perfect moment, and Aditya Chopra giving him a brutal ‘reality check’ about his average looks. It’s the kind of underdog hustle we rarely hear about. Here’s a look at how he bagged the role.
Band Baaja Baaraat wasn’t an expensive film — it was made on a budget of Rs 10 crore at that time — and the makers, debutant director Maneesh Sharma and YRF, wanted Ranbir Kapoor to play the lead role. However, Ranbir, who had made his debut three years earlier in Saawariya, refused the film.
Speaking to PTI in an old interview, Ranveer recalled how he landed the project after Ranbir exited. “Ranbir Kapoor said no to Band Baaja Baraat. YRF was looking for a new face I got a call and I knew this was the opportunity I was waiting for. I kept my face safe and didn’t do modeling or music videos. And then I got a massive launch, essentially for an ‘outsider’, opposite a reasonably recognisable star Anushka Sharma,” he said.
Ranveer Singh almost missed his YRF debut because he was on a date
At that time, Ranveer had been struggling in the industry for three years. He had worked as an assistant to director Shaad Ali, who was making ad films, and also performed background tasks in Makarand Deshpande’s plays — cleaning up, fetching chai and paan, and helping with costumes. After three years of relentless hustle, he finally met casting director Shanoo Sharma, who, during an informal meeting with Aditya Chopra, pushed Ranveer in for an audition with the studio.
But in an old interaction, Ranveer admitted he almost missed this golden chance because he ignored Shanoo’s calls while he was on a date and didn’t want to distract himself.
Ranveer Singh told Caravan that he was on a date with “a very beautiful girl” when his phone rang. He saw Shanoo was calling but flipped his phone to ignore it as he wanted to focus on his date. “I was totally into my date,” he had said. However, when he flipped the phone back after some time, he realised Shanoo had given him 7 missed calls and left him a message that froze him. “It was a two-word message: Adi, full stop, Chopra, full stop,” he recalled.
‘Why are you f***ing it up?’: Ranveer Singh recalls Aditya Chopra confronting him
Though Ranveer Singh nailed his first audition, director Maneesh Sharma kept calling him over the next two weeks to test him on different things. “Sometimes he would ask me to perform a dance. Sometimes comedy, or a scene from DDLJ, a beloved classic and one of Yash Raj’s most successful films,” he said. Ranveer, however, admitted that during this time he got “progressively worse,” and to make matters worse, would often arrive late to the studio. “They thought I wasn’t serious,” Ranveer said.
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It was then that Aditya Chopra confronted him directly and asked him, “He’s like, ‘So why are you fucking it up?’” The producer, however, decided to give him one last chance in the form of a screen test. After the screen test, Ranveer was so overwhelmed he broke down — a moment that was caught by Aditya himself. Ranveer said, “And then I walked out of the cabin, and it was too overwhelming. My knees buckled, and I fell to the floor and started crying.” He added, “Adi saw me and he put an arm around my shoulder, and patted my back and said, ‘Tu kar lega.’”.
‘Better act well’: Aditya Chopra’s advice to Ranveer Singh
In another interview with Bollywood Hungama in 2022, Ranveer Singh recalled another brutally honest reality check from Aditya Chopra about his looks. He said, “I used to think that I am good looking, but then Adi sir gave me a reality check at the beginning of my career. He was like, ‘You are good looking but not in a conventional way. You are not Hrithik Roshan, so better you act well.’”
Ranveer Singh saved Band Baaja Baaraat’s shoot from an angry liquor store owner
In another old interview with GlamSham, Ranveer Singh shared how he once saved a shoot of Band Baaja Baaraat from being disrupted after an angry liquor store owner tried to stop the filming.
“When we were shooting in the DDA market in Delhi, there was a huge crowd gathered to see the shoot. And there was a liquor store there. It was situated in such a place, that the crew was blocking its way. After some time, the owner came up and said I have lost so much money because of you! What the hell are you doing? My business is going down! Everyone was trying to control him. The direction team tried to plead saying, we are just going, we are just about to finish. But he was not budging. Then I went up to him, and said, ‘Please sir, meri pehli film hai.’ And I don’t know what got into him. He suddenly melted! And said: ‘Oh bhai, tuney kya baat kehdi. Ab tu shooting kar! Saari raat shooting kar!’”
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Ranveer Singh has come a long way in the industry, and his highly anticipated film Dhurandar released on Friday.
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