Randeep Hooda says he doesn’t attend film events where people ‘pretend to be glamourous’: I spend time with real people

Randeep Hooda has been around in the entertainment industry for over two decades. Despite working in some of the biggest hits of recent years as well as several critically-acclaimed projects, Randeep has not been part of any of the so-called ‘camps’ or groups in the industry. In a recent interaction, the actor pegged it down to his refusal to fraternise with people from the industry and attend their events. Also read: Sonu Sood: I feel lost at Bollywood parties, that’s a different clan

Randeep made his Bollywood debut with the 2001 Mira Nair film Monsoon Wedding, following which he worked in several box office successes like Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010), Jism 2 (2012), Cocktail (2012), Kick (2014) Sultan (2016), and Baaghi 2 (2018). He has also appeared in lead roles in films like Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), Highway (2014) and Sarbjit (2016). In 2020, he made his Hollywood debut with the Chris Hemsworth-starrer Extraction.

In a recent interview with Indian Express, he answered a question about staying grounded by saying, “I don’t think I have won any awards in my life and I don’t give a damn about them really. They are opinions. But, you aim to be honest with yourself and stay real. You’re trying to be yourself most of the time; if you start faking it in real life you start faking it on screen. That’s why I do not go to a lot of these events where you have to pretend to be this happy glamorous person, while you have a sh*tty life on the side. So, staying true to yourself and my work, and knowing that your job is not to please people keeps me grounded. I don’t think people pleasers make good actors.”

When asked why he does not socialise with fellow actors a lot, Randeep added, “I guess I do spend a lot of time with real people and not so much with film people because at some stage we all get alienated and enter our cocoon. If you’re successful then you start living in an ivory tower. You will not be able to connect to people anymore, because you’re living in an isolated vacuum, so as to speak. So, obviously you have to be in touch with reality and the best way to do so is to have a conversation with your mother, she’ll put you right.”

The actor will next be seen in the Netflix show Cat where he plays a police informant in Punjab. The Punjabi-Hindi language thriller has been created by Balwinder Singh Janjua and premieres on December 9.