He has a slice-of-life project, a dark action film and a web series inspired by a real life story lined up for release, and Randeep Hooda says he’s being “stretched” as an actor in all his upcoming projects. He admits that he attempts to find something new with each project, instead of working with a stylised baggage.

“I go back to scratch, approach every project with a fresh (perspective). I’m a bundle of nerves, always searching for something. That quest in me is still alive,” says the actor, taking a break from his packed shooting schedule in Lucknow.

Hooda, who spent six years in Australia as a student, during which he worked as a taxi driver, got his big break in 2001 with Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. He has shown his acting chops in films such as Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), Highway (2014), Sarbjit and Sultan (both 2016), and made his international web debut last year with the Chris Hemsworth-starrer Extraction. Strangely though, he doesn’t really remember much about his roles.

“I’m a new person every time. It’s not that I’m carrying some stylised baggage or certain body shape. It’s always a new thing, a new project, and a new me,” he tells us, adding, “After so many years, filmmakers still find me interesting and unexplored — that’s probably the biggest compliment.”

He has also faced moments of panic, which he overcomes by giving himself a pep talk. “Sometimes, we’ve to do something which is tough. You just have to look at yourself in the mirror: ‘Okay boss, you will be alright. You have done this before’... That’s where the evolution of experience comes in,” he shares.

Hooda, who will soon be seen on the big screen in Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai alongside with Salman Khan, a rom-com and a web series, is glad to be doing a variety of roles. “They’re all very different, and took a different side of me and a different commitment. I’m being stretched as an actor, which I like. I believe one can only enjoy the process. Karam karo, fal ki chinta mat karo. The result is in somebody else’s hands,” he concludes, on a thoughtful note.