| Ten
years ago, Ranvir Shorey debuted on television as
an anchor. Today, with Rajat Kapoor’s Mithya,
he is acknowledged as the star of the multiplex
cinema.
 For
a rather long time, Ranvir Shorey, 36, did all the
stuff any struggling actor looking for that one
big break would do – a stint as a VJ on Channel
(V), stand-up comedy shows on television, a recent
chat show with long-standing friend and co-actor,
Vinay Pathak, and several character roles.
And then along came Mithya, this year’s
first sleeper hit. Going by director Rajat Kapoor’s
track record – Raghu Romeo (2003)
and Mixed Doubles (2006) – Mithya
was always expected to do decent, if not big business.
The movie didn’t disappoint and went on to
garner Rs 3 crore in its first week. Which is just
the kind of money any small-budget, multiplex movie
would love to make.
Mithya has also catapulted Shorey, its
leading man, into the big league and he’s
already being compared, a little too hastily, we
would think, to actors like Naseeruddin Shah and
Om Puri.
Mithya – dark, quirky and stylish
– has Shorey in a double role. He’s
VK, a small town boy with Bollywood dreams, and
Raje, an underworld don. Arm-twisted into impersonating
Raje by the don’s rivals, VK takes his part
a little too seriously, and tragicomedy follows.
The actor, who brought in a flawless sense of comic
timing and vulnerability to the role, was, incidentally,
Kapoor’s third choice, after Saif Ali Khan
and Arshad Warsi.
“The producers wanted a commercial name. But
Rajat had promised me, if no one else would do the
role, I would get it,” says Shorey, son of
K D Shorey, who produced films like Bereham (1980)
and Bud Aur Badnaam (1985).
“Rajat pushes me to deliver my best. He has
more faith in my talent than I do, but he is also
analytical about my work,” says Shorey. Kapoor,
who first worked with the actor in the play C for
Clown, says that the actor brings subtlety to any
role. “Actors are lazy but Ranvir is wonderfully
energetic.”
His Mithya co-star Neha Dhupia says that she would
often crack up while doing scenes with Shorey. “The
one where Ranvir enacts the dual role in front of
a mirror in the don’s house is simply hilarious.”
Shorey started out as a producer with Channel (V)
back in 1997. “I felt that he would be as
good in front of the camera as he was behind it.
But we had to cajole and then threaten him to get
in front of the camera,” says the channel’s
former creative director Shashank Ghosh. Shorey
was paired with Vinay Pathak in House Arrest, and
it is a partnership that continues a decade later.
The two hosted Ranvir, Vinay aur Kaun? for Star
One till last year and have worked together in several
films.
The actor, who was once famous for being director
Pooja Bhatt’s arm candy, debuted in a small
role in Ek Chotisi Love Story (2002) where
he played Manisha Koirala’s boyfriend.
What followed was a clutch of low-profile roles
in high-profile films — among them, a commitment-phobe
in Pyaar Ke Side Effects and a wastrel with a heart
of gold in Khosla Ka Ghosla (both 2006);
a drug addict in Traffic Signal, and a man abandoned
by his wife on their honeymoon in Honeymoon
Travels (2007). Shorey, who has often portrayed
the desperation of a loser with conviction, is no
Khan or Kumar or even a Kapoor (Ranbir). And he
knows it, which is why he sticks to his niche: a
small guy with big dreams, who often ends up making
mistakes. Like Nanoo of Pyaar Ke Side Effects, the
one role he says he identifies with.
 “He
has taken the right route,” says Naseeruddin
Shah, who would have played the lead in Mithya three
decades ago if Kapoor had managed to find funding
at the time. “He has an uncanny ability to
grasp and portray the finer nuances of the character.”
Shorey’s next film is Ugli Aur Pagli,
a comic caper-cum-love story with Mallika Sherawat,
where he has danced for the first time. “You
may call me the new Sunny Deol. I am bad at it.
I willingly dance at parties with my friends, but
I am uneasy dancing to the claps of the choreographer,”
says Shorey, who will also be seen in five more
films this year, including Nagesh Kuknoor’s
Chandni Chowk to China.
The actor says he is a sucker for rehearsals and
likes working on his craft and performances till
he “gets them just right”.
Despite a few mainstream films, Shorey isn’t
comfortable with the solipsism that characterises
mainstream Bollywood. “My leanings are towards
off-beat cinema. I like doing roles with meat in
them.” Actors like Shorey, Irrfan Khan, Vinay
Pathak and Konkana Sen Sharma have gained immensely
from erasure of lines demarcating mainstream and
art house films. “I knew I was in circulation
when I started making a living from films,”
says Shorey. “Now, I am in a position to turn
down roles.” And that’s a comfortable
place to be in for any actor.
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