Ranveer Singh on threats to Deepika Padukone: Had the urge to speak out but was asked not to

When Karni Sena threatened to behead Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone most expected the stars along with Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Kapoor to speak out. But contrary to expectations, the film's cast maintained an eerie silence over the matter.

In a recent interview, Ranveer revealed that when he first heard Karni Sena issuing threats to chop off Deepika's nose, he was angry and wanted to react but was asked not to. "I was filled with rage. There’s no doubt about that. I had a very strong urge to act out, to speak out, but I was given strict instructions not to. And I had to respect that because I was not at the forefront of this fight. It’s the prerogative of the producers, of the director. If they were explicitly telling me that me saying something or doing something is going to complicate things further, I don’t want to complicate their lives. I want to do my bit to make sure that this film gets made and it gets released. If this is what they are asking me to do, I have to abide by that.”

“I could choose to act out destructively but I chose not to. I channeled it and I put all of it into my performance. Whatever you may feel after watching this performance is born out of having felt a certain way," the actor added.

Karni Sena had been protesting against the film ever since the crew started shooting in early January 2017. Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was thrashed and the sets were vandalised in Jaipur. Condemning the incident, Ranveer said, "It’s extremely disturbing. When I saw that, I was filled with rage. How dare you do that to somebody who I worship? How dare you go to my place of worship and do what you did? All of these feelings were like a tornado inside me, and I actually had to be calmed down by people around me. Now that I look back, when the film has released and is being celebrated, I think it was a good decision to channel it into my performance because that is my protest.”
Appaluding Bhansali's strength, Ranveer said, "He took his time to come out of it, understandably. But hats off to the guy when he came back, it was like a mad man. The kind of rigour and energy he was filled with was like a man possessed.”

“Eventually, these perpetrators have lost. The film has won, Mr Bhansali has won. It’s a victory, the way this film is celebrated not just in our country but across the world. The kind of numbers it is posting is an indicator of widespread audience acceptance, approval and validation. I am very happy, especially for Mr Bhansali, because he has been through the most,” the actor said.