Fifteen years ago as a debutant in Band Baaja Baaraat, Ranveer Singh floored the audience with his performance as a carefree, callous college Delhi boy Bittoo Sharma who was at best a jugaadu person with zero ambition in life. The newcomer's act was so convincing that it had people believe that the actor is actually from West Delhi.
What shocked everyone, including his future co-star and eventual wife, Deepika Padukone, that Ranveer Singh was actually a Bombay boy whose full name is Ranveer Singh Bhavnani. He was born in 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.
Meet Ranveer Singh Bhavnani
Ranveer Singh's paternal grandparents -- Sunder Singh Bhavnani and actor Chand Burke -- moved to Mumbai (then Bombay) from Karachi, Sindh, now in Pakistan, during the Partition in 1947. It is a coincidence that a large part of the action in Dhurandhar, Ranveer Singh's latest blockbuster, is set in Lyari, a town in Karachi in Pakistan.
In Dhurandhar, Ranveer Singh plays an Indian intelligence agent Jaskirat Singh Rangi, a Sikh, who is sent to Lyari to weed out the very roots of terrorism that is a constant threat to India.
Once he lands in Lyari, he takes on the identity of Humza Ali Mazari, a Baloch who has come to Karachi from Lahore, seeking work and more importantly, a purpose in life.
Picture this: a Sindhi boy from Bombay plays an Sikh in an Indian film whose story travels to Pakistan's Sindh province, where he poses as a Baloch from Lahore. Maybe completely unintended, but the makers sort of doff their hat to Ranveer Singh's Sindhi origin in Dhurandhar.
Ranveer Singh: A True-Blue Sindhi
In real life, Ranveer Singh's fashion is outlandish and flamboyant, sometimes even bordering on bizarre. After Dhurandhar wrapped, the actor made headlines by going beardless.
Ranveer Singh sporting a clean-shaven look after he wrapped Dhurandhar.
These days, he is sporting a cleaner look with monochromes and a more tamed beard, perhaps readying himself to start the shooting of Don 3 in January. But what has remained a constant is his love for bling, like a good Sindhi.
Remember the Koffee With Karan episode, ahead of the release of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, where Ranveer Singh spoke about his love for diamonds?
"I wacked these (diamond studs) off my mummy. But like a good son I bought her bigger ones," the actor added, prompting fellow half-Sindhi Karan Johar to say, "Such a good Sindhi you are... Sindhis love their diamonds."
In a previous interview, the actor has explained the reason why he dropped his surname Bhavnani.
"It's too long, too many syllables. Ranveer 'Singh' is short, crisp and can stay in your memory easily. Ran-veer-Singh-Bhav-nani is too long. It's not a saleable commodity," Ranveer Singh said back in 2014.
Asked why he added 'Singh' to his name instead, the actor at the time said, "Dadaji is Sikh so that's how 'Singh' came."
More recently, in an #AskMeAnything from 2021, Ranveer Singh on his Instagram Story revealed his favourite Sindhi food.
"Sindhi curry with rice and boondi and Arbi Tuk on the side," he wrote back to the curious fan.
He is connected to his Sindhi roots through the language too, something that Pakistani actor Fahad Mustafa once acknowledged.
Ranveer Singh even honoured his Sindhi heritage when he married Deepika Padukone in 2018. In their twin wedding ceremony at Italy's Lake Como, the couple exchanged wedding vows as per Sindhi rituals a day after they got married according to Konkani tradition as a tribute to Deepika Padukone's roots.
Ranveer Singh loves his Sindhi food, language, and diamonds, and we loved what he did in Dhurandhar.
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