BIOPIC AND BEYOND

Randeep Hooda may have proved his acting credentials with biopics, but typecast him at your own peril

- POOJA BIRAIA JAISWAL

Getting into the skin of his characters comes easy to Randeep Hooda, but convincing his parents to let him do that not so much. They had had enough with his latest Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.

“My parents made me promise that I won't do this again… that they wouldn't stay with me in Mumbai if I did it again,” said Hooda. Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, he said, has been the most challenging for him so far—“one that was emotionally, mentally and physically draining to the point that I had to keep popping pills in order to keep exhaustion and anxiety in check”.

With this film, he was more than an actor—he was also the co-writer, a first-time director and co-producer. And, there was mounting pressure to finish the film that seemed to be taking forever—one-and-a-half years to complete a 55-day shooting schedule. His health took a beating, and his morale a dip. Hooda shed more than 30kg to portray Savarkar’s Cellular Jail stint in the Andamans.

The problem was Hooda had to keep switching between this state of “deprivation” (relying only on almond oil and dry fruits) and “revenge eating”, leading to a “near-death experience”. “I will never do this again,” said Hooda. And then, after a pause, he added, cheekily, “But then again, never say never.”