Exclusive! Randeep Hooda: I work better in isolation, but you can only do that as an actor, not director – Times of India

Randeep Hooda is a fighter. His passion towards his craft, bordering on extreme, often overrides any sort of physical or psychological hiccup. His all-in approach to work that leaves no room for half-baked efforts is for everyone to see in projects like Sarbjit, Highway, his portrayal of Charles Sobhraj in Main Aur Charles, training in MMA for Do Lafzon Ki Kahani or devoting three years to his passion project, Battle of Saragarhi, which never saw the light of the day. The actor also battled knee injuries for consecutive years, leading to a delay in film projects. True to his tenacious nature, despite the odds, Randeep is back on his feet and ready to head back to his most ambitious project to date, Swatantra Veer Savarkar.
Having undergone massive weight loss to play the titular role of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, we met the actor before he left for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to restart the shoot of the film. Interestingly, Randeep’s responsibilities aren’t limited to being an actor anymore, as he has also taken over as the director and producer of the movie.

Seated in his peaceful new office in suburban Mumbai, surrounded by the tranquillity of trees and birds, the actor said, “I work better in isolation, but you can do that only as an actor or a writer, not as a director. It’s like I was an individual tennis player before, and then they put me in a soccer team and made me the captain, and now I must make all the players play tennis individually! Juggling the roles of a director, writer and producer is a great lesson in people management because acting is very individualistic.”
Elaborating on taking on multiple responsibilities for the project, he shared, “Savarkar is my first film as a director, writer and producer. I am being fearless about it. I didn’t know many things about Savarkar before I started researching him. Most books have dedicated only two paragraphs to the armed revolution, which was also a part of our freedom struggle. Through extensive research, we will show in the movie what their actual contribution was. I am making this movie also to connect with today’s youth.”

It took Randeep a few months to get back in action post the injury, but he is in no mood to slow down. Looking back, he says, “I was 22 kgs underweight for almost eight months while prepping for Savarkar, I weighed 68 kgs. Post the injury, I am now 71 kgs and I need to lose weight again as we restart the shoot as there must be continuity. With age, it all gets tougher for sure.”