EXCLUSIVE! As Band Baaja Baaraat Turns 13, Looking At How Ranveer Singh Bagged The Roll

Maneesh Sharma’s Band Baaja Baaraat (BBB) is an utterly joyous and enjoyable look-see at the world of Punjabi weddings in Delhi as seen through the eyes of two wedding planners, partners in business Shruti and Bittu who have sworn from Day 1 never to get involved with one another. Anushka Sharma and debutant, quite easily the discovery of the year, Ranveer Singh. Whip up a wondrous camaraderie in scenes written with such skill and craft you don't see the labour that has gone into building this love during the time of the wedding in the heart of Nayee Dilli.

Ranveer's superstardom is someday going to be a part of folklore. He came in from the outside and was considered quite a brash, loudmouthed, exhibitionist.

In an interview with Zoom after the film, Ranveer spoke on how he bagged the coveted role, "I remember I was out on a date when Shanoo Sharma kept calling. I avoided her calls for as long as I could because I had other things on my mind at that moment. Imagine if I had not taken the call from Yashraj for a fling that lasted exactly ten days. Anyway the next day I was at Yashraj doing two scenes. I got called back in three days. Later, Adi Sir (Aditya Chopra) told me he had made up his mind immediately."

In the same 2010 interview with Zoom, Ranveer added he was pleased he didn't get a conventional romantic debut. The actor quipped, "The story in Band Baaja Baaraat is terrific. My character Bittu was so much fun for me to play because he's so far removed from my world. It was more than I could ever ask for. I was more than happy to be a simple character in a simple story. Not too many newcomers can dream of a break like Band Baaja Baaraat, certainly not someone unconnected with the film industry."

Brimming with enthusiasm, Ranveers said in 2010, "Not since Akshay Kumar and John Abraham has there been a male lead from outside the industry getting such positive reactions.”

Catty elements within the industry had spread the rumour that his father, a prosperous businessman, had financed the film.

Confessed the young actor, "Yes, that hurt on several levels. Such ugly rumours took away from my pleasure at being the first solo hero to be launched by Yashraj. It was upsetting. My father and my family's pride that I had made it on my own got blunted when it was said that they financed my debut film. It was like taking away from my little achievement. I was upset more for my parents than for myself. I was also upset for Yashraj. Did they need my father's money to make a film? The entire film industry knows Yashraj doesn't need to do all this. It's absurd. They don't need anyone's money to make films. Certainly not my father's."