Last week, Ranveer Singh broke the internet. The flamboyant actor, known for his extravagant (or should we just call it ‘extra’?) sense of style, surprised the internet this time by going against his bombastic instincts… and dressing minimal. A little too minimal, really.
Ranveer dressed down to his birthday suit for a photoshoot with an international magazine, and the internet could not get enough. Rather, they had had enough. Because first there were the mentions, and then there were the memes. And if Ranveer broke the internet, the memes shattered it. From showing Ranveer as the last stage of human evolution to comparing him with street dogs and lizards, to contrasting him with an infamous topless picture of Shakti Kapoor (please don’t Google it) to pointing out his ‘condition’ after two flops, meme makers came together to achieve what can only be called a very mean feat.
You’ve got male
Of course, this was meant to be all fun and games on the internet. A tweet very wisely put it once: ‘Everyday, the internet is looking for a main character. The goal is to not be it.’
There is no one who has more ‘main character energy’ than Ranveer Singh, whether or not he’s on the internet, because he’s unapologetic, unfiltered, unbothered and wholly unashamed to be completely himself. And while the internet has given him tonnes of (much deserved) love for his acting prowess, it has never quite known what to do with his personality. Because Ranveer Singh is a cisgendered, heterosexual man, who defies every single rule of what is expected of one. Whether it is his gender-fluid dressing or his penchant for giving jhappis and pappis to everyone, age, gender and nationality no bar (Bear Grylls may still be recovering!), or his ‘light-footedness in the journey of life’ (as he put it on Koffee with Karan), he has always challenged the idea of what a man must do and say, in order to be seen as one.
{{/usCountry}}There is no one who has more ‘main character energy’ than Ranveer Singh, whether or not he’s on the internet, because he’s unapologetic, unfiltered, unbothered and wholly unashamed to be completely himself. And while the internet has given him tonnes of (much deserved) love for his acting prowess, it has never quite known what to do with his personality. Because Ranveer Singh is a cisgendered, heterosexual man, who defies every single rule of what is expected of one. Whether it is his gender-fluid dressing or his penchant for giving jhappis and pappis to everyone, age, gender and nationality no bar (Bear Grylls may still be recovering!), or his ‘light-footedness in the journey of life’ (as he put it on Koffee with Karan), he has always challenged the idea of what a man must do and say, in order to be seen as one.
{{/usCountry}}The complete man
On-screen, he brings a femininity to his often-muscular heroes, even those fighting for love or in war, in films like Padmaavat and Ram Leela, and lends a vulnerability to them, normalising the idea that men can both be fearless and afraid, heroic and anxious, quite loud and sometimes soft, often proud and sometimes lost. His last film, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, broke every expectation of what is expected of a Hindi film hero, in and as a character whose bravery comes not from his heroic words or look or actions, but his gentle heart that tries for what’s right, even if it doesn’t know how to fight for it, as men are often expected to.
And off-screen, Ranveer continues every day to normalise the idea that men can introduce themselves in reference to their glorious partners (a viral clip has him proudly declaring to a swooning crowd that he’s ‘Deepika Padukone’s husband’), they can be more excitable about the things and people they love than exclamation marks (!!!!), and they can wear whatever the hell they want, or not wear it when they want. Because it’s time for men to break out of the boxes that have long been put on all genders, and what better way to do so than with a ‘lightness of being’, as Ranveer calls it.
The memes can say what they want, but being able to live life in a way that brings you joy and meaning, is really no mean feat!
Nikhil Taneja is a writer, producer, storyteller, public speaker, feeler of feelings, men’s mental health advocate and co-founder of Yuvaa
That Feeling When is a fortnightly column that offers a relatable take on mental health and emotional well-being.
Catch Nikhil Taneja’s column every fortnight in HT Brunch. It will next appear on August 13, 2022.
From HT Brunch, July 30, 2022
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