Starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Hansel Mehta’s The Buckingham Murders also sees celebrity chef Ranveer Brar in a pivotal role. In this special interview with Subhash K Jha, Brar talks, becoming an actor, working with Kareena, cooking Hansel Mehta and more.
Ranveer Brar can’t get over the experience of shooting with Kareena Kapoor Khan in Hansal Mehta’s The Buckingham Murders. “Sir, it is something else! I mean at first everyone scared me so much. So I was very intimidated at first, you know, in awe. And then, I think she has this very calming presence around her. She puts you at ease, she put me at ease. So after the first scene, I lost that intimidation. And then I settled in easily. Also, I learned a lot from her. I think the ability to switch on and off, the knack of how to compose yourself before a scene. I think she’s amazing at composing herself for the camera. And that presence that she has, I learned that a lot, sir. I mean, I’m still learning.”
Ranveer is familiar with the Indian diaspora which Mehta’s murder mystery tackles. “I’ve lived in the US for 12 years, in Boston. Six to seven years out of that was in an Indian/South Asian neighbourhood. So, I am aware of the life, the angst, the fight, you know, to hold on to your identity. I am quite aware of an Indian’s life outside of India. And that did help me to express myself better, Sir, I don’t really plan much in life. Even the celebrity chef status wasn’t planned. I think it’s just my parents’ blessings and good fortune. Thirty years I have been cooking, you know professionally at that. The relationship is so deep there is no difference between me and the chef in me any more? So what happens is you are inseparable from your relationship to food. So now, how do you extend that part of yourself and become richer in life. Acting is one way. And poetry. I write a lot of poetry. I write in Hindi and secondly thi is acting. They make me a better Ranveer.”
Hansal and Ranveer bonded over cooking. “Sir, it is totally cookery connection. It was a Nihari recipe on the internet that he saw, so he must be looking for a Nihari recipe. After seeing the recipe he called a friend and told him that there is an actor in this boy. So our secret joke is that you wanted a Nihari , that’s why you cast Ranveer. He understands his love for food and helps him understand me better. So, his love for food helps me as an actor. I was 15-16 years old, that’s when I decided I don’t want to do the normal thing. At that time, medicine , engineering were the normal otherwise you would just go on to do graduation and try for the civil services. I just didn’t want to do any of that. My dad was an aeronautical engineer. Gold medalist IIT Kanpur. So you know, there were a lot of greenflag choices growing up in India in the late 80s. You were really not given a choice and I did not want to do that. I just didn’t want to do what everybody else is doing. In Lucknow, food comes across as an interesting option. Which is different and insanely eccentric. So I loved the eccentricity. That is how I got connected to food. Started it at the age of 15. First made in the streets of Lucknow. Then I went on to culinary college and you know the whole thing. I’m 47 now, so it’s been almost 30 years.”
Ranveer claims there is no rivalry with other celeb chefs Vikas Khanna, Sanjeev Kapoor. “Sir, you know we have spent the beginning of our careers together struggling and we’ve worked together at some point in time.And we have gone through tough times in one of the hotels .We know each other for 20-plus years .Vikas tops that list celebrity chefs who get a lot of love. I have known him and been working with him for 12 years now.I have for the longest time been avoiding acting. I had got some offers from the South and most of them were villains .I never acted in my life I didn’t even do drama in school. Sir, I always used to think that whatever I play, the character is going to stay inside me, it is going to corrupt, my value system, my identity and I am just going to be lost, so very scared of getting out of character especially negative roles.”
Ranveer started his career as an actor with a gay character in Hansal Mehta’s short film. “Hansal sir cajoled me into it and there was a little sense of comfort that I was playing a chef in the anthology Modern Love Mumbai. There was a big sense of discomfort as it addressed the L G B T Q community.But it was good discomfort. I mean, it was the same kind of discomfort as when I first thought of becoming a chef, it was not a normal choice. I felt the same discomfort again after 30 years. Acting has taught me that the character never really stays inside you but you hold on, you hold on to a lot of things that you experience as a character . You become aware of a lot more corners in your brain and heart when you live the character, especially when I am used to just living Ranveer. On camera , it’s a good break for me to just step away from myself and just be someone else. To experience that moment as someone else through someone else, so I liked it very much. Sir, this will become a big thing from a small mouth, I mean, I am nobody, but I had love to explore. I love to explore characters Even if I cook food, I cook for people, I have to observe them, study them.”
The Buckingham Murders is in theatres now!
