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Dial D for don
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Randeep Hooda makes his debut with "D"
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"D" is out of my system. I am concentrating on Shock, an action thriller from the Factory RANDEEP HOODA
After Bhikoo Mahatre and Chandu, D is the new name from Ram Gopal Varma's Factory specialised in creating underworld dons with an uncanny regularity. Playing the title role is Randeep Hooda, a journeyman from Haryana who says there is a D in all of us. "There is a rebel in all of us.
Circumstances force some to express it. D is one such character."
Right from the title to certain portions in the storyline to the promos about D monopolising and corporatising the Mumbai underworld, the film seems to be based on the life of Dawood Ibrahim. Like Dawood, Randeep has been shown as the son of a police constable.
There is a Dubai connection, there are references to real estate and Bollywood. Eventhe big goggles are there. But Randeep avers it is a fictional account.
On the role...
"My name is Deshu, a Marathi Hindu. Goggles were my idea and I don't think Dawood has ever worn Ray Ban Aviator. I assume his glasses are even bigger. They look strange because I drive a scooter wearing them. As for Bollywood, power and glamour always go hand in hand."
Originally from Rohtak, son of a surgeon father and a politician mother, Randeep spools back with instances of his rebellion. "I went to a sports school in Sonipat, never confident of my English diction. My sister used to participate in plays, so I also got attracted. Soon I was shifted to Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, where the entire emphasis was on making bookworms.
As they say, you can take a jat out of Haryana but not Haryana out of a jat. I didn't like the atmosphere," he says.
Later he went to Australia for a Masters in Marketing. "There I had issues with my teachers over my research presentation. Circumstances forced me to drive a taxi. While driving I observed the most satisfied customers are those who are happy with what they are doing in life. Love for theatre made me come back to Delhi. I started modelling for money and doing a little bit of theatre."
He got an offer from Mira Nair for a small role in Monsoon Wedding. "I told Mira I don't know acting. She arranged for a workshop. There I met Naseeruddin Shah. I requested him to take me in his group. He tried to dissuade me by showing me many easier ways to become an actor."
Against parents' wishes
But Hooda had been bitten by the bug and shifted base to Mumbai against the wishes of his parents. "He made me the light man. Soon I started getting smallish roles, and two, three plays later I became the lead actor."
His Urdu diction is impeccable and his voice strangely similar to Naseer's. "At one of the plays, an assistant of Ramuji noticed me and I was signed for Ab Tak Chappan but it didn't materialise. I was on the Factory's rolls for two years without any role. One day director Vishram Sawant saw my pictures and he found his D in me."
ANUJ KUMAR
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