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WE'LL GIVE THE OTHERS A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY'
By Roshmila Bhattacharya, Mumbai Mirror | Aug 13, 2015, 01.00 AM IST
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Asserts Randeep Hooda whose gangster drama, Beeba Boys, has been selected for the TIFF Gala and is in Competition at the London film fest.
Deepa Mehta's Beeba Boys, a gangster drama inspired by real incidents, has been selected for the prestigious Gala section of the Toronto International Film Festival which opens on September 10. It's also in Competition for the London Film Festival in October. Lead actor Randeep Hooda is happy but cool.
"I'll be representing not just my film but my country too and I'm not going with an 'I'm an Indian and so glad to be here' attitude. Only 15 films have been selected from over 500 entries for the TIFF Gala, the main category, as is the Competition section at the London fest. It's a big honour. I'm not going with my tail between my legs. I'll be on par with all the A-listers there," he asserts.
He admits that since Deepa is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, this kind of a huge international exposure had been at the back of his mind.
"Every actor's desire is to reach out to a huge audience, globally," he points out, reminiscing about a career which began with Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding. "It was one of the most popular Hindi films, cutting across cultures and countries. It took me to a lot of festivals. I recall the film winning the Golden Lion and the Laterna Magica Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2001 where it premiered."
After that Randeep moved to Mumbai and since he was looking for something equally big, didn't sign any film for four years. "I did theatre with Naseer saab (Naseeruddin Shah) with whom I'd done Monsoon Wedding. After 14 years, life's come a full circle."
Unlike most Indian actors he didn't dream of rubbing shoulders with Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan but imagined rubbing shoulders with the Johnny Depps of the world. "He's cool, I like his laidback attitude. But I've never been star-struck, even as a child," he insists.
Will he be going alone? "As of now, yes, and my only request to Deepa was to get me an apartment. Even when we were filming, she put me up in a beautiful apartment. That's the only way you become a part of a country and its culture. By the end of the shoot, everyone was at my pad enjoying the farewell parties," he laughs.
This time she's booked him an apartment in the same building as the festival. "So I'm pretty sure the whole team is going to end up there after the screening. Anyone else is welcome too. There'll be no hotel rules to stop us from making a night of it," he says.
Prod him on which designer he'll be wearing and he points out that the Beeba Boys look has created a flutter in Canada. "But I won't look anything like my character Jeet then since I start a new film, Yeh Laal Rang, on August 18. But if the team wants to create that cool look for the red carpet, I'll go along," he shrugs.
And what are the chances of the film picking up an award? Randeep says that's hard to predict till it's screened for a larger audience. "But I know for sure that it will give the other films a run for their money. No one is going to laugh at the film or us. They may laugh with us but not at us," he signs off, confidently.
Deepa Mehta's Beeba Boys, a gangster drama inspired by real incidents, has been selected for the prestigious Gala section of the Toronto International Film Festival which opens on September 10. It's also in Competition for the London Film Festival in October. Lead actor Randeep Hooda is happy but cool.
"I'll be representing not just my film but my country too and I'm not going with an 'I'm an Indian and so glad to be here' attitude. Only 15 films have been selected from over 500 entries for the TIFF Gala, the main category, as is the Competition section at the London fest. It's a big honour. I'm not going with my tail between my legs. I'll be on par with all the A-listers there," he asserts.
He admits that since Deepa is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, this kind of a huge international exposure had been at the back of his mind.
"Every actor's desire is to reach out to a huge audience, globally," he points out, reminiscing about a career which began with Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding. "It was one of the most popular Hindi films, cutting across cultures and countries. It took me to a lot of festivals. I recall the film winning the Golden Lion and the Laterna Magica Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2001 where it premiered."
After that Randeep moved to Mumbai and since he was looking for something equally big, didn't sign any film for four years. "I did theatre with Naseer saab (Naseeruddin Shah) with whom I'd done Monsoon Wedding. After 14 years, life's come a full circle."
Unlike most Indian actors he didn't dream of rubbing shoulders with Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan but imagined rubbing shoulders with the Johnny Depps of the world. "He's cool, I like his laidback attitude. But I've never been star-struck, even as a child," he insists.
Will he be going alone? "As of now, yes, and my only request to Deepa was to get me an apartment. Even when we were filming, she put me up in a beautiful apartment. That's the only way you become a part of a country and its culture. By the end of the shoot, everyone was at my pad enjoying the farewell parties," he laughs.
This time she's booked him an apartment in the same building as the festival. "So I'm pretty sure the whole team is going to end up there after the screening. Anyone else is welcome too. There'll be no hotel rules to stop us from making a night of it," he says.
Prod him on which designer he'll be wearing and he points out that the Beeba Boys look has created a flutter in Canada. "But I won't look anything like my character Jeet then since I start a new film, Yeh Laal Rang, on August 18. But if the team wants to create that cool look for the red carpet, I'll go along," he shrugs.
And what are the chances of the film picking up an award? Randeep says that's hard to predict till it's screened for a larger audience. "But I know for sure that it will give the other films a run for their money. No one is going to laugh at the film or us. They may laugh with us but not at us," he signs off, confidently.
Anupamaa
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