Text by: Prathyush Parasuraman.
As Ricky Bahl/Iqbal Khan in Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl (2011)
In an early scene in Yash Raj Films’ rustic social-comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Jayesh (Ranveer Singh) is speaking to his wife Mudra (Shalini Pandey). They are on their bed, at night, and in between his kindness and her coldness, what immediately electrifies is the way he looks at her, dipped in earnest prayer for a pappi — a kiss — the inner corner of his eyes curving downwards, intensity and yearning intact. This intensity feels familiar, the kind we saw him perform with a soft-blur focus in Lootera, with gruff entitlement in Padmaavat, with dignified distance in Bajirao Mastani, with routine affection in Gully Boy, with licentious and libidinal intentions in Ram-Leela, and with braggartly boyish charm in Kill Dil as well as Befikre .
The gaze is a less-discussed yet…