Fans Come First for Ranveer

Other actors can learn a thing or two about keeping their mood in check from Ranveer Singh. Earlier this week, the Padmavati star appeared to be in a funk of sorts while exiting Bandra’s Otters Club after a workout. His trademark smile was nowhere in sight, but the actor dutifully took selfies with a dozen or so fans who’d gathered outside the gate hoping to catch a glimpse of him. His only request—that they don’t tread on his fancy Yeezys in their excitement, and that they stand on his left since that’s his ‘flattering’ profile.

It was evident Ranveer was not in the mood to chat and engage. Still he sportingly flashed the peace sign (and not his pearlies) while taking pictures, and then greeted a passerby panditji who proceeded to perform a short puja with the actor right there in the middle of the road, much to the amusement of commuters. Ranveer drove off after politely shaking hands with those that had gathered around his car, but pointedly never once cracked a smile.

Worth a Second Chance?

The new joke in Bollywood is that you’ve got to warm up to Vaani Kapoor whether you like it or not. Despite receiving scathing reviews both for her appearance and her performance in last year’s Befikre, Vaani has landed a plum role opposite HrithikRoshan, no less, in Yash Raj Films’ next, to be directed by SiddharthAnand.

Industrywalas are saying Aditya Chopra is determined to give her a second chance at winning over the audience. Why else would he cast her instead of any A-lister who’d happily take the role?

The film though, is reportedly a two-hander with Tiger Shroff playing an assassin trained under Hrithik Roshan’s character. The big conflict? He’s assigned the task of taking out his mentor, which he will do using the very skills he learnt from him. But what’s Vaani doing in all this? Your guess is as good as ours.

No Penny-Pinching Here

The unit of an ad-film that had just completed their shoot in Bangkok decided to commemorate a job well done by going to dinner together the night before they were all meant to fly back to Mumbai. A fancy restaurant was picked in one of the city’s posh neighborhoods, and much food and drink was consumed by the gathering of nearly two dozen unit members.

This was one of those rare shoots where the star featuring in the commercial (a multi-hyphenate with multiple creative skills) had become friendly and familiar with the entire team during the course of the shoot. He frequently hung out with technicians and production crew on breaks from set instead of staying ensconced in his make-up room as stars often tend to do. Industry insiders put it down to his Peter Pan complex; he thinks of himself as younger than his years and prefers the company of ‘cooler’, younger folk. So it was no surprise that he decided to join the crew for the wrap-party on their last night in town.

When the check arrived at the end of a long, noisy, drunken night—a fat check reportedly— the team discovered that their star had paid it already while pretending to sneak out for a loo break previously. The producer and the brand reps insisted that they’d take care of the check, but the star insisted that it would be his pleasure. The unit only became bigger fans than they already were.

Why is this so important, you ask? Why does it deserve to be mentioned? Because it’s so rare that Bollywood stars pick up the tab. Forget about paying for others, you’ll seldom find actors who pay their own bills, as any honest producer will tell you, most likely on the condition of anonymity.

So kudos to this guy, and may his tribe increase.

Aditya ChopraBollywoodcinemaDeepika PadukoneHrithik RoshanRanveer Singh