The OG villain of the 70s and 80s Gopal Bedi, famously known by his screen name Ranjeet, recently talked about the golden era. In a chat with news agency ANI, the actor opened up about how he, despite being a teetotaler, hosted parties almost every day at his Juhu bungalow for B-town’s biggest stars including Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar, Sanjay Khan, Feroz Khan, Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha, and more. The veteran actor said, “My parents lived in Delhi and I lived in Juhu, so everyone would gather there in the evening. There were no inhibitions or formalities or whatever.” Ranjeet also explained how actresses used to cook various delicacies at these get-togethers. “Reena Roy would make paranthas, Parveen Babi would make drinks, Moushumi Chatterjee would make fish, Neetu Kapoor would make bhindi, it used to be that kind of atmosphere,” he added.
Ranjeet also revealed, “People like Rajesh Khanna would drink one-two bottles in one night,” and mentioned that by the time Ranjeet would come home after working multiple shifts, the party would already be in full swing. He further expressed, “I was blessed. I believe that the house that welcomes guests is blessed by god. I had enough space in my bungalow to entertain people. There was enough staff also.”
Ranjeet highlighted his ability to juggle multiple shifts, even amidst these fun late-night parties. He shared that several lead actors would often wake up late, around 2 pm, despite having a 10 am shift, enabling him to engage in several projects concurrently. This flexibility allowed the actor to pursue multiple opportunities simultaneously, he shared.
In the same interview, Ranjeet also shared that in the past, there were no dedicated dialogues written for villain roles. The attention was squarely on the lead actors. “The [villain’s] dialogues were spontaneous and impromptu. I came up with those lines on my own. There were no dialogues written for villains, they were only meant for heroes and heroines,” he shared.
Speaking about today’s films and shows, the veteran actor said: “If you see today’s film, it appears as if they’ve removed the original scenes and replaced them with item numbers and molestation scenes. Back in the day, Bindu and Helen performed cabaret dance in films, but they were extremely graceful. Waheeda Rehman ji’s dance sequence in Guide was so elegant…”
Ranjeet has been a part of several 70s and 80s hit films such as Gaddaar, Aap Ki Kasam, Haath Ki Safai, Aakhri Insaaf, Khoon Aur Paani, among others.
