Ranvir Shorey made a name for himself with films like Jism, Lakshya and Pyaar Ke Side Effects. But he distinguished himself as a seriously gifted actor with a string of independent films, including Khosla Ka Ghosla, Traffic Signal, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd., Bheja Fry and Mithya.
In the years that followed, Ranvir covered a lot of ground on screen and also went on to dabble in bigger budget pictures like Singh Is Kinng, Ek Tha Tiger and Happy Ending. But he's made it clear that his heart is with the independent community.
Most recently, he was seen in a TV series, titled Metro Park, which is all about the lives of the Indians living abroad. The independently produced series has earned Ranvir Best Actor (Comedy) nomination at the second edition of the iReel Awards. In the show, Ranvir plays the role of Kalpesh Patel, a typical Gujarati man who runs an "American" convenience store called "Pay and Run" in New Jersey.
"Metro Park was actually the first online series that I had done, and sadly it wasn't the first to be released. It took some time for Eros to pick it up. It was independently produced by Giju John. And I said yes to the series because they were great scripts. They gave me all the scripts in advance. I loved the character of Kalpesh Patel."
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"I had remotely done something like this long ago for Reema Kagti's film Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd but there also my role wasn't a lot, it was kind of short so I thought it was a great opportunity for me to explore a Gujarati character a bit more. Besides, my brother lives in New Jersey so most of his friends are Gujaratis or Marwaris living in New Jersey. So I had met a lot of people like Kalpesh Patel over there in New Jersey. So, these were the reasons why I immediately latched on to the idea," adds the actor.
Even as Ranvir has been in the movie business for nearly two decades, he says web shows are giving him better and more opportunities to explore himself as an actor.
"I have been a part of a few web-series now, and I love the platform because it gives you an opportunity as an actor to play a part properly. In films, I usually end up getting parts which are short (laughs), apart from the movies where I play the lead part which are far too less and far too small. But mostly in the movies, especially mainstream movies, my parts have been kind of short and in these series I get a chance to flesh out these parts properly."
Ranvir also received much love and appreciation for his acting gig in Sacred Games 2, where he played Shahid Khan, a terrorist who wants to launch a nuclear attack on India.
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He said, "A reason why I said yes to doing a part which does not have a lot of length in terms of screen-time, was because it was such a multi-layered character. For me, it was a character which was very symbolic of the overall theme of the series. So, although it wasn't a very lengthy part, it was an important part."
Reacting to his nomination at the iReel Awards, the actor said, "I am thrilled that Network 18 has established these awards for the web space because we definitely need it. There's so much great content been made for platforms that you need someone to acknowledge and recognise the good work that is being done on this platform. So I'm very happy and grateful to Network 18 for having incorporated these awards. I was quite pleasantly surprised because as far as awards go, I have a history of being ignored (laughs). So I'm very happy that Network 18 and iReel Awards has noticed my work and recognised me."
You can vote here: News18 iReel Awards 2019/Voting
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