Randeep Hooda can’t recall if he was trying too hard or just showing off while stretching to hit a ball during a game of polo, when Raja, the horse he was riding on, slipped and fell on him sideways. “When he got up, my leg was still in the stirrups. Thankfully, he just stood there instead of dragging me with him or trampling me,” the actor recalls with a shudder. The accident, that took place 11 years ago, left him with a broken leg that he could use only after a metal plate was inserted and fastened in place with screws, to be removed once the bones had had time to heal. “I was screwed up, man,” he deadpans, adding that ever since, whenever he wanted to get the operation done, he was either short on time or money.

With the lockdown leaving him with ample supply of both, he got the surgery out of the way and is on his way to a complete recovery. “The leg is carrying my weight now; I should be able to run and ride in another week,” Randeep informs, hoping that action scenes won’t require him to down painkillers anymore. “I hope it doesn’t take away some of my gravitas. The metal has been carrying me around since Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai after all,” he quips. Since doing two back-to-back action films, the actor has discovered his limitations. “It’s exciting to find out that even after 20 years in movies, there’s something new to try. I aim to make my action scenes real as opposed to just flying kicks and punches,” he says, gushing over his collaboration with Chris Hemsworth. “It felt like I was at the Olympics, against an Australian in an American arena. Though I only got a silver medal, it was a good show,” he chuckles.

Randeep, who played love guru Raj in Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal, enjoys the romance space too, and wouldn’t mind doing an out-and-out love story. “Just not the running around the trees routine; it’s not me,” he is quick to add. For now, he is dubbing for Salman Khan’s action-thriller Radhe and is looking forward to the shoot once he returns from the Haryana schedule of Unfair And Lovely in October. “I want to take a three-four day trip to the wild before that,” muses Randeep, who spent most of his free time shooting wildlife before the lockdown imprisoned him.

He invested the break clicking new photographs and studying old ones, to ascertain if they had potential or were good fluke shots. “I also put up a bird feeder in my balcony and clicked sparrows, parakeets, and what looked like hummingbirds,” Randeep reveals, adding that it also gave him time to introspect. “I wondered why I had come here with Rs 1500, and where I am now. It allowed me to revisit, so I can return with the passion of a rookie. I also realised how many of my characters have stayed with me, and came out in my gait, angst, smile, and behaviour. I need to get rid of the extra baggage.”

Point out that internalising a character has often proved to be detrimental to actors and he laughs, “By the time actors like me internalise a character, someone else finishes six movies and brings in a lot more money. I’m a bit of a fakir in my attitude, which I need to correct. I plan to do many more films now”.

However, given the current scenario, a few projects that he has lined up are yet to be finalised. “I’ll be moving to other pastures, both here and in the West,” he shares, happy to be finally getting the kind of roles in Hollywood he had passed over bigger franchises for. “I didn’t want to play cabbies, 7/11 clerks, IT geeks or millionaires—all nonphysical roles that poked fun at our culture and accents. I was lucky to be rewarded with a role like Saju at a time when I voluntarily sat it out to prepare for Saragarhi, which didn’t come to fruition. I was really down and out and didn’t know where to pick up the threads,” he relays. Will we ever see him play larger-than-life heroes in mainstream films? “For me, Mahabir Bhati of Highway, Shankar Malik of Laal Rang, Charles Sobhraj of Main Aur Charles, or Sarbjit Singh in Sarbjit were all larger-than-life characters.”

Renuka Vyavahare (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 6, 2020)

Randeep Hooda’s recent surgery at a city hospital led to a lot of speculation about his health. Clearing the air about his leg surgery, the actor, who is now recuperating at his home, said, “In 2008, I met with a major accident on the polo field. After the incident, I had metal plates and screws inserted in my leg to hold the bones together. I was supposed to take these plates out in a year, but either I didn’t have the money or the time. After living with the metal plates for 12 years, I had to get them removed because my leg got infected.”

Talking about how he was coping with the pain all these years, he said, “I managed to do the action sequences in my movies with the help of painkillers. I didn’t want to tell anyone because then people get too careful around you. I decided to have an elective surgery to end the trauma. Also, there was no shooting because of Coronavirus.”

Randeep said, “I went to the hospital early in the morning and the operation was scheduled for the same day. The surgery also helped me get rid of some of the backache that I have been carrying for 12 years. I have some good action movies lined up, and I wanted to be fit for them and also look after my body more.”

Randeep now has his father, who is a doctor, keeping him company. The actor admits that he did miss the outdoors during the past few months when he was homebound. He shares, “I am an outdoorsy person, and I do miss my jungle trips and horses. But, I could see the environment healing. In these past few months, I caught up on reading and went back to the basics in terms of the craft. It was a good time to introspect. I saw shows, which I didn’t have the time for earlier. I learnt more about photography, Urdu and read plays. I also ate healthier. It was a therapeutic and productive time for me. In the last six months, I caught up with myself beyond the world of movies.” 

Shreya Mukherjee (HINDUSTAN TIMES; September 4, 2020)

Last week, when actor Randeep Hooda was hospitalised, it worried his fans and well wishers. To everyone’s relief, he tested negative for Coronavirus but was admitted in the hospital for a leg surgery. Expressing “gratitude” to all the good wishes he received, the actor shares that he is recovering well.

“My leg is healing, there are no post operative complications. I’ll be able to move around properly in a week’s time,” he says.

Revealing more about his condition, the actor, who is an equestrian sportsman, continues, “Dr Chetan Unadkat has been taking care of me for long because I keep hurting myself. This right leg injury is 12 years old. I fell from my horse in 2008 while playing a game of polo. It had to be operated on, and plates and screws were put to fix the damage.”

The actor was supposed to get the plates and screws removed after a year, but he says he either “didn’t have the time or the money to get it done”. “These plates and screws have been the longest relationship of my life, it is sad that it has come to an end. I think the best films in my career happened when they were with me, and now, I don’t know if I will be the same actor again,” he jokes.

Ready to “get back to shoot” Hooda will start work for debut director Balwinder Singh Janjua’s Hindi project Unfair And Lovely also starring Ileana D’cruz, in October. “We had finished 60-70% of the shoot before lockdown. I’m hoping things get better and the film industry gets back on track,” he says.