‘Won’t stand behind Aamir Khan’: Randeep Hood recalls rejecting Rang De Basanti due to his ‘Jaat akad’ | Bollywood News

Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra had once approached Randeep Hooda to play a pivotal role in his acclaimed 2006 film Rang De Basanti. However, the actor made the decision to walk away from the project in favour of a Ram Gopal Varma film. In a recent interaction, the Murder 2 actor admitted that he regrets missing out on an opportunity that could have taken his acting career to a ‘different league.’
Speaking to Shubhankar Mishra, Randeep shared that he was approached to play Bhagat Singh’s role in the film, which ultimately went to Siddharth. He said, “If I would have done Rang De Basanti, I would have come in a different league. I gave the audition and I liked it. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra would come me, sometimes driving drunk, and he would ask me ‘kar le kar le picture karle.’ I asked him to drive safely. I wanted to do that film but during that time, Ram Gopal Varma told me, ‘I am thinking of cast you in lead role in D and you will go and stand behind Aamir in the poster.’ Meri Jaat akad nikal aai (My Jaat arrogance came up) and I said, ‘I won’t stand behind Aamir.’ That happened and I left Rock On also for similar reasons.”
Explaining his rationale on why he left career-defining projects for niche roles, he said, “So, I have always worked with a little different kind of filmmakers and producers and not with industry insiders, maybe that’s why my growth was slow. I used to think I am enough and that craft is everything but it is not the case.”
Rang De Basanti went on to become one of the most successful and celebrated Hindi films of all time. It won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and was chosen as India’s official entry for the Oscars that year. It was also nominated for a BAFTA. D was the second film of Randeep’s career after Monsoon Wedding. It was the third installment of the Gangster film series and achieved moderate success at box office. Randeep is currently seen in Sunny Deol’s Jaat.