Gulshan Devaiah is one of those rare talents in the film industry who has made a name for himself with his unique choice of roles and films and his consistently brilliant acting even without any prior connections. Since his debut in director Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl in Yellow Boots (2010), Gulshan has consistently bagged important roles in big films, always preferring quality over quantity.
One of his earliest successes came with his performance in director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s romantic tragedy Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013), which brought him widespread recognition. His portrayal of Bhavani, a character based on Count Paris from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, earned him immense praise, even in a film starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.
Recently, Gulshan Devaiah recalled his experience of working with Ranveer Singh when he was going through a challenging phase in his career. The Ulj actor also admitted that he often got exhausted seeing Ranveer’s boundless energy.
While talking to Lehran Retro, Gulshan said, “His films were not doing well at that time. Though he got a lot of appreciation for director Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera (2013), the film did not do well commercially. I think it started affecting him, whether he wanted it or not. His first film (Band Baaja Baaraat) did well, but his second film Ladies vs Ricky Bahl was average. Though he was getting that stardom, such films (Lootera) give you unexpected opportunities and then you hope that people will like it because it is a very beautiful story made by a very good director. And people did not like it as much as he wanted. It was a bit dull initially.”
However, Gulshan revealed that once the shooting of the musical sequences of Ram-Leela began, Ranveer’s mood lifted and he was back to his energetic self. “He was instantly back in ‘his zone’. He is exactly the way you think. Even people who know him since childhood say he has been the same since then. His energy level is amazing. I would sometimes walk away feeling that I can’t maintain the same energy. I would get tired seeing his energy,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ram-Leela marked the first time Ranveer Singh worked with Deepika Padukone and it was during the shooting of this film that their romantic relationship blossomed. In the first episode of Koffee With Karan Season 8, the couple revealed that they were practically “inseparable” during the making of the film.
