'I had got some offers from the South and most of them were negative roles.'
'I used to think that whatever I would play, the character would stay inside me and corrupt my value system. So I was very scared of getting out of character, especially negative roles.'
Celebrity chef Ranveer Brar can't get over the experience of shooting with Kareena Kapoor Khan in Hansal Mehta's The Buckingham Murders.
"It is something else!" he exclaims to Subhash K Jha.
"At first, everyone scared me so much. So I was very intimidated, and then in awe. But she has this very calming presence around her. She puts you at ease.
"So after the first scene, I lost that intimidation and settled in easily. I learned a lot from her, like the ability to switch on and off, the knack of how to compose yourself before a scene.
"She's amazing at composing herself for the camera. And that presence that she has, I learned a lot. 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-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 aware of an Indian's life outside of India, and that helped me to express myself better. I don't really plan much in life. Even the celebrity chef status wasn't planned. It's just my parents' blessings and good fortune.
"I have been cooking professionally for 30 years, so I am inseparable from my 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, this is acting. They make me a better Ranveer."
Hansal and Ranveer bonded over cooking.
"He saw a Nihari recipe on the Net; he must have been looking for it. 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.
"His love for food helps me as an actor. I was 15-16 years old when I decided that I don't want to do the normal thing. At that time, medicine and engineering were the normal careers. Or else, the civil services. I didn't want to do any of that.
"My dad was an aeronautical engineer, a gold medalist from IIT Kanpur. In the late '80s, you really were not given a choice and I didn't want to do what everybody else was doing.
"In Lucknow, food is an interesting option. It's insanely eccentric and I loved it. That is how I got connected to food. I first made food on the streets of Lucknow. Then I went on to culinary college."
Ranveer says there is no rivalry with other celebrity chefs like Vikas Khanna and Sanjeev Kapoor.
"We have spent the beginning of our careers together struggling. We have worked together at some point and gone through tough times in hotels. We know each other for 20-plus years.
"Vikas tops the list celebrity chefs who get a lot of love. I have known him and been working with him for 12 years now.
"For the longest time, I avoided acting. I had got some offers from the South and most of them were negative roles. I never acted in my life; I didn't even do drama in school. I used to think that whatever I would play, the character would stay inside me and corrupt my value system. So I was very scared of getting out of character, especially negative roles."
Ranveer started his acting career as a gay character in Hansal Mehta's short film, Baai from the Modern Love Mumbai anthology.
"Hansal sir cajoled me into it. There was a little sense of comfort as I was playing a chef. But there was a big sense of discomfort as it addressed the LGBTQ community. But it was good discomfort, the same kind of discomfort as when I first thought of becoming a chef. It was not a normal choice. I felt that same discomfort again after 30 years.
"Acting has taught me that the character never really stays inside you, but you hold onto the things that you experience as that character. You become aware of a lot more corners in your brain and heart when you live the character.
"On camera, it's a good break for me to step away from myself and be someone else. I love to explore characters. Even when I cook food, I cook for people. I observe them."
