“Andhere ko baahon mein leke, ujaale ne ghar basaaya hai, churaya tha jo chukaya hai.” These lines play in the background as Varun, who once robbed Pakhi of her wealth and her heart, leaves her on her own again. This time, however, all alone in a lonely cottage, without the comfort of her loved ones.
As he walks the snowy lanes, he recollects Pakhi’s thoughts that she poured on a piece of paper last night, allotting her mortality to the last leaf of a tree in her backward. He knows this is his last chance to escape death, yet he decides to turn back as he is also aware that he is Pakhi’s last leaf. It’s payback time and this Lootera submits himself to the final act of atonement.
In this week’s Monday Masala, as Ranveer Singh celebrates his 35th birthday, we raise a toast to his career-defining performance as Varun Srivastava in Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera. A heartbreaking tale that taught us all about the flush and fury of love and the silences that fall in between.
Known for his high energy levels today, Ranveer was just three years old in the industry when Lootera hit the screen a day before his birthday on July 5, 2013. Unlike his previous films, Band Baaja Baaraat and Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, Lootera demanded Ranveer to maintain a certain stillness. And the actor granted all of that to his role.
In fact, for one scene in the film, he went an extra length and stapled his stomach in order to feel his character’s pain. Explaining why he did so, Ranveer said in an interview, “At that time I was very raw as an actor, exploring my craft. I wasn’t comfortable with my craft. I didn’t know how to do it. I was so raw that I didn’t know the ABC of filmmaking. Even when I was an Assistant Director, I used to be given menial jobs, I would be far away from the sets. So I hit the ground running.”
In another scene, when Varun doesn’t turn up for his painting class with Pakhi, she rashly stomps upto him at his work site. He is prepared, he knows he can’t let her day-dream about him anymore, he has to cut the thread. In that moment, his emotions are both raw and uneasy, exactly what the scene demanded.
Perhaps that’s what Varun needed, a mix of rawness and uneasiness that Ranveer brought on the screen.
When she poses the final question to him – “Do you love me” – he looks into her eyes and asks her to read his ‘Yes’ in them, but never utters a word. He is a vagabond, Bhagwan Vishnu ka avatar as Pakhi puts it, with different names and identities. She is his only chance to escape this rutheless run, but he can’t take that leap, not yet.
“Pakhi ji aap please yahan se jaeye,” he says in an almost embarrassed, hushed tone.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else play the multi-faceted Varun, than the multi-talented Ranveer Singh. If you look at his filmolography, you realise that the guy is a chameleon. From a struggling rapper in Gully Boy to a gruesome Khilji in Padmaavat, he transforms into any role that you give him. But never has he played a subtle character like Varun, making it one of his most memorable performances so far.
Living a life of a thief isn’t easy, but hunger and poverty makes you walk such a path. Of course, he has played a thief – or a conman – before – but Lootera demanded an almost intangible layer, and Ranveer added that. And you realise that when you hear the words, “Qabr par mere sar utha ke khadi ho zindagi, aise marna hai mujhe.“
Ranveer’s impart that much-needed dignity and class to Varun, along with the good-heart that his character carries with him.
Even after seven years of release, Lootera manages to make you cry, leaving you with a sense of longing, similar to the one when someone close to you departs, leaving the room of your house and your heart empty.
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