After Dhurandhar success, will we never witness Ranveer Singh’s soft boy avatar again? | Bollywood News

Last year, in the same week that Ranveer Singh’s watershed spy thriller Dhurandhar released in cinemas, he completed 15 years in the Hindi film industry since the release of his debut movie, Manish Sharma’s 2010 romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. Ranveer’s Dilli ka launda Bittoo Sharma burst onto the screen with his quiet, unassuming charm intact. As Salim-Sulaiman’s “Tarkeebein” played in the background, his silhouette emerged into the sunlight falling in the balcony of a Delhi boys hostel, Ranveer covered his eyes for a few seconds before gingerly letting his eyes face the sun. A cozy stretch followed, as he finally basked in his moment in the sun that he’d been longing for years.
Fifteen years later, as Shashwat Sachdev’s “Ishq Jalakar” blares in the background, Ranveer faces the scorching sun of the Afghanan desert sun in Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, sporting an unkept mane and a homogeneous identity, given he’s now a spy obliterating his past identity as he steps into the chopper ferrying him into a new mission — and a whole new life — in Pakan. Ranveer is no stranger to wiping out his past identity as an actor as well, completely dismantling the image of his previous role to breathe life into a new one. But both in and with Dhurandhar, and its even bigger sequel Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge earlier this year, the stakes are too high now.
Ranveer Singh as Bittoo Sharma in Band Baaja Baaraat.
Ranveer Singh is no longer playing the boy next door, whiling away his time at the corner chai ki thadi snacking and swearing on bread pakoda. He now wolfs down heaps of biryani in his adopted home of Liyari, without realising the tears trickling down his cheek because he’s begun to realise what he’s left behind. He carries the burden of an entire country in the film, and post the unprecedented success of Dhurandhar, also carries with him the burden of a struggling film industry. That’s exactly why when the actor was recently ‘banned’ a film body, the film industry was set in motion to the rescue of its new saviour.
But in the process, is the industry placing on him too much responsibility? The scale and stake expected from Ranveer now may never allow him to go back to the carefree comic timing of Band Baaja Baarat. Or the quiet strength of Vijay in Vikramaditya Motwane’s 2013 period romance Lootera. Or the kaleidoscopic buffoonery of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2013 romantic drama Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela. Or even the Jim Carrey-style action comedy in the first half of Rohit Shetty’s 2018 cop drama Simmba? Ranveer has displayed his range captures intensity as intently as lightweight comedy, as demonstrated in parts of all the above mentioned films. But the full-blown arcs of his characters now run the risk of being stripped off another facet of his personality that he perfected with as much aplomb — the soft boy presence.
Ranveer Singh in Lootera.
The strategic shift started right after the success of Dhurandhar this past December when he walked out of Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3. He’d signed the film at probably the lowest point of his career, when his films were either underperforming at the box office or getting shelved. Don was exactly the franchise he needed to cash on, before he emerged victorious with a franchise of his own. As he eyes Jai Mehta’s zombie apocalypse thriller Pralay as his next, his goal is to scale up from Dhurandhar. But one must not overlook the fact that it was his films with Excel Entertainment, particularly Zoya Akhtar, which allowed him to lend that quiet, brooding intensity to Hamza in the first part of Dhurandhar.
After Vikramaditya Motwane tapped into that aspect of Ranveer’s personality, Zoya took it to a whole new level with Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) and Gully Boy (2019). While the former starred him as Kabir, an heir to a multi-crore Delhi empire, the latter traced his character Murad’s rise from the streets of Mumbai to a self-made rapper. But what bridged both the performances were the scenes and moments where he spoke volumes with his character. We’ve seen him bring the house down at Bollywood parties and weddings. We’ve also seen him dazzle the red carpet in signature Sindhi out-there looks, but he put all of that unhinged energy and aesthetic aside to downplay his parts in both the films, allowing his character to take the forefront. In fact, we barely notice him in the opening scene of Gully Boy, as he let Vijay Varma’s Moeen own the main character energy.
Ranveer Singh in Gully Boy.
Had both Dhurandhar films been one as originally planned, it’d have been interesting to observe the inflexion point in his character arc, from being strategically relegated to the background in the first to taking over the Karachi throne in the second. But splitting the film into two parts, Aditya Dhar has fed into the rising monolithic myth of Ranveer Singh on the big screen. Even in his personal life, despite becoming a father, he’s kept his infectious joy and energy at bay. He’s doing what he’s shied away from doing all his career — keep a low profile. Wearing a mask while visiting Hansal Mehta’s office for his next, evading the paparazzi without as much of an acknowledgement, and even giving up on brands in order to shape his own are practices the old Ranveer Singh may not approve of.Story continues below this ad

Remember the time when he made even a packaged noodles commercial his own collaborating on it with director Rohit Shetty like it’s a tentpole film? Or when he collaborated with adult star Johnny Sins for the most fun condom commercial? Or when he bared it all for a magazine cover shoot? Or even he donned padded underwear to accentuate his assets in Aditya Chopra’s 2016 rom-com Befikre? Risqué may have become risky now for Ranveer, who’s now endorsing much bigger brands like RuPay and Dubai Tourism, which also match his newfound stature.
Also Read: Beyond Dhurandhar and Border, the 10 underrated Hindi films that defined 2026 till now
Is is true then that Ranveer Singh charming his way into our hearts with Rocky Randhawa will be the last we see of him in that light? Will we no longer see him make fun of Akshay Kumar’s readiness to dance at a mundan ceremony because he himself has joined the senior actor as a brand ambassador of Naya Bharat? Will he be now playing only his songs during the baaraat ceremony of the next Ambani wedding, instead of giving shoutout to his idols in attendance, playing their signature songs as the unofficial DJ, and dancing along the beats like a hopeless fan? If a video clip of him mimicking Shreya Ghoshal singing “Lattoo” from April 2026 is to be believed, Ranveer is still the same soft boy with a softer heart. Maybe his current PR-driven image is just his latest chameleon-like performance, so that he can surprise us with his next one, harking back to the Bittoo Sharmas of the world with his trademark consummate ease.