Randeep Hooda opens up on Battle Of Saragarhi, admits he didn’t watch Akshay Kumar’s film on the same subject
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 23, 2020)

Randeep Hooda recently wrapped up Prabhudheva’s Radhe, featuring Salman Khan in the titular role. In his first negative role he plays a Mumbai-based gangster and has shot some dare devil action scenes with a Korean stunt team. “I’ve had this action image for a long time and I would always wonder why because I’ve never punched anyone, never used my fists. But I love action, if it’s not too over-the-top,” smiles the actor.

Randeep underwent extreme transformation, shedding 18 kilos for Sarabjit Singh’s biopic and then growing his hair and learning the Sikh martial arts to enact the role of Havildar Ishar Singh in Rajkumar Santoshi’s war drama, Battle Of Saragarhi. “It’s just an extra effort I put in for my character and there’s a sense of responsibility and respect when you are playing one who was for real. There’s also a fear that people will find out that I can’t act,” he guffaws.

Battle Of Saragarhi was shelved and it was Akshay Kumar who played the braveheart in Anurag Singh’s Kesari. Surely, it must have been upsetting? “It hurt that the audience could not see what would probably have been a more authentic version with more real emotions of the story. That apart, you learn to move on. Through the journey I learnt the principles of Sikhism and I’m a better person now,” he avers. Did he watch Kesari, you wonder, and he quips, “Nope, it didn’t excite me much.”

Randeep will soon be seen in Sai Kabir’s Mard and describes him as a “quirky director” who is trying to extend himself with this film. “Every film has a life of its own. Since I don’t go on holidays, my only holiday is to go into the world of films,” he exclaims.

His last release, Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal, despite Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan, failed to connect with the audience. Ask him what went wrong and he laughs, “It didn’t do well? I’m not sure because had it done well, I’d have got a grand piano from Imtiaz, but I believe I’m not getting it now.” Prod him and he says he thought it was a novel story, underlining the difference between the sex-starved, gender-separated love of the ’90s with the sexually easy yet empathetic world of today. “It was well directed, I enjoyed it,” he avers.

Sajid Nadiadwala has confirmed that a sequel to his 2014 directorial, Kick, is being scripted. The first part had featured Randeep as a no-nonsense cop, Himanshu Tyagi, on the hunt for Salman’s Devil aka Devilal Singh. Has the maker returned to him with Part 2? “I have no idea they were doing the sequel!” he exclaims. “I really enjoyed Kick, Sajid’s debut directorial.”

Buzz is, Randeep will soon be seen in a quirky comedy produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He interrupts, “That’s being produced by somebody else now. Yes, it’s a comedy and I play a cop. I am shooting for it right now at Karnal.”

Speculaton is also rife that the actor will soon tie the knot with model-actress, Lin Laishram. The actor neither confirms nor denies the rumour and signs off keeping the suspense around his personal life intact. “As a rule, I don’t discuss my personal life, I have enough to talk about professionally. But yes, I am in a very good space at the moment,” he winks.