'Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls' review: Strictly for Ranveer Singh fans

'Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls', featuring Ranveer Singh and British survivalist Bear Grylls, does not know what to do with itself. It pretends to be interactive, and sure enough, there are choices presented to you a few times through the narrative. But they do not seem to matter at all. It also pretends and both the host and the star talk about, too many times to count, how dangerous this remote Serbian jungle is, where angry brown bears and hungry wolves roam. But who in their right mind would think of this as anything different from what Ranveer does in his movies (acting)?

Strictly for Ranveer Singh fans?

Whether you would be able to sit through 'Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls', then, would depend on whether you are okay with Ranveer's energetic, gung-ho persona, because it is all about him. I liked to think I was. But then I saw this. Unlike you, I did not have the consolation of thinking 'Well, I could turn it off whenever I wanted to'. This is my occupational hazard, for I had to watch the entire thing in a single sitting, only so I could tell you how bad it was.

The special begins with Ranveer apparently running for his life as a bear rumbles towards him like a small tank. As Ranveer is cornered on a cliff, Grylls climbs down a rope ladder hanging from a helicopter and rescues him. This opening would have fit into an adventure or survival film. But here, it confounds. What is the purpose of showing Ranveer alone and lost in dense, wildlife-infested woods if we perfectly well know this is a narrative? 

No stakes?

Both Ranveer and Grylls tell the camera (as the old joke goes, the cameraperson is at far more risk as they are busy holding a giant camera instead of, you know, protecting themselves) several times that what they are going to do next is a very risky and/or exhausting. But there are still no stakes, as we know it is all scripted and contrived. 'Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls' is not fun even if we presume it is self-aware, as it does not have enough wit. Not reality television, just television, and mediocre television at that.

Also Read: Ranveer Singh introduces himself as Deepika Padukone's husband in viral video. Watch

interactive storytelling without a lot of interaction?

As I said above, 'Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls', like Grylls' 'You vs. Wild' before that, says it is an example of interactive storytelling, where the audience can make key decisions that will affect the course of the narrative and the eventual ending in fun and compelling ways. That the choices should matter is indispensable.

Just to confirm what I had already realised, I clicked on one of the options and often went back to choose another to see if my choices really matter. It did not alter even the immediate outcome. 

To sum it up: are you a Ranveer Singh fan? Watch this. There are moments in 'Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls' when he does manage to convey sincerity, however out of place it feels. If you are not a fan, skip this.