Initially, no one took me seriously: Randeep Hooda
Before enjoying
success with Highway, Randeep Hooda had decided to give it all up. Not once,
but twice as nobody wanted to work with him.
Randeep-Hooda
Updated
on Mar 23, 2014 12:08 PM IST
Hindustan Times | ByAmrah Ashraf
The
day we met him, had woken up with what he admitted was "a nasty hangover"
from partying too hard the previous night. But he didn't seem to mind.
He said he deserved it.
For an actor who was on the verge of giving up on Bollywood because "no
one wanted to work with me", the success of his recent film is bittersweet.
"Suddenly everyone wants to party with me. People who had not taken my
calls in years are calling me back. Suddenly I am not sliding past people,
unrecognised," Hooda says, as he takes a long drag of a cigarette and lets
the smoke linger in his mouth. "I don't know if they genuinely like me or
just want to ride the with me."
Act One
Hooda has every reason to play the jilted man enjoying a reversal of fortune.
He had a debut most newcomers only dream of: Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding
(2001). "After that, I assumed that I had to only stand in front of the
camera and people would flock to the theatres to watch me," he says. That
didn't happen. Instead, Hooda spent the next four years jobless. "And I
was too full of myself to approach people for work." Of course, no
opportunities came knocking.
Slowly, his funds started drying up and his frustration grew. Hooda finally
started approaching people. "But no director was willing to invest in
me," he admits. In his desperation, he then did what most Bollywood actors
call suicide - theatre.
Hooda started acting in plays by Naseeruddin Shah's Motley troupe. "But
initially, no one took me seriously because of my looks," he says.
"Naseer bhai believed in me. Without Motley, I would've been a less
assured actor. No actually, I would've been a bum."
Theatre brought out the actor in him. "No one treats you like a star
there. You either perform or get laughed at," he says. His hard work paid
off, earning him applause for roles in Waiting for Godot and Arms and the Man.
And with that, he grew in confidence, far better prepared for Bollywood.
Act
Two
The other thing Hooda realised was that to succeed in Bollywood without a filmi
background, he needed to knock on doors himself. "You don't get into the
big league without appeasing that league first," he says casually. Most
knocks went answered, but door opened.
"Ram Gopal Varma offered me D [2005]," he says. The movie tanked but
Hooda got great reviews. "Suddenly people saw an actor in me."
But after D, Hooda had seven flops in a row. "He was a bit too
experimental," says Bollywood trade analyst Komal Nahta. Hooda agrees.
"I played an honest cop in Risk (2007), Rang Rasiya (2008) was about the
life of painter Ravi Varma. Nothing commercial." He was spiralling
downwards again. This time it was different. "This time I had no
epiphanies. I was lost," he says.
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A
Curtain Call
Then one afternoon in 2009, he met director Milan Luthria, who offered him Once
Upon A Time In Mumbaai. "I tried to back out thrice because I was
surprised that someone was offering me a film," Hooda says. But Luthria
stuck it out. "He had that unique quality that I was looking for,"
the director says. The gamble worked for both men. Critics started to take
notice.
Of all the films Hooda did next - hits, misses, plum roles, ensemble casts -
one thing became clear: Randeep Hooda can act. "People liked me in Saheb
Biwi Aur Gangster [2011] because I got under the skin of the character,"
he explains, with honesty uncharacteristic of a film actor. "I was bad in
Murder 3 [2013] because I was working in double shifts and had no time to
analyse the character."
Even for Highway, his solo hit in many years, he
prepared by living with young Gujjar boys to understand their body language.
"I didn't find Mahabir Bhati (his character in Highway) there but I found
what he could be like." He grew a beard and exposed his face in the sun
till it started to look cracked and weather-beaten.
For today, life seems good. Hooda has a solo hit under his belt; people are
seeing him as an actor, not just a piece of meat (though he's still an
undeniable sex symbol). Sure there's the hangover, but it's not something to
worry about. Up and downs are just part of life.
COMEBACK
KINGS
You
don't always make it in the first go. Here are others who've found fame only
after a few stumbles and risen higher and higher afterwards.
Amitabh
Bachchan
His first seven films tanked. No one had any hope from the too-tall man whose
voice was not fit for films. Look at how wrong they were!
Saif
Ali Khan
Remember Khan from the '90s? You probably don't because no one really does. But
Dil Chahta Hai changed his fate.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui
He struggled for 12 years doing small roles before he made it big with Gangs of
Wasseypur (2012).
