It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the 2016 film Sarbjit marked one of Randeep Hooda‘s career-best performances. The actor delivered a remarkable performance in the biopic as Sarbjit Singh – an Indian farmer who was wrongfully convicted of espionage after inadvertently crossing into Pakistan and endured years of imprisonment before tragically dying in captivity. During a recent conversation with Ranveer Allahbadia, Randeep shared insights into his preparation for the role, revealing an intense method he employed. He said, “The first thing I did was I stopped flushing the toilet. I would switch off the bathroom lights, and I’d chain my hands and feet and lock myself around the shower area. I would spend time there. It was very difficult in the beginning. I would write letters to my director Omung Kumar, which I never actually sent to him.”
In the same discussion, Randeep Hooda also expressed, “I had read some of his (Sarbjit Singh) letters to his family, and I’d seen a lot of photos. I kind of knew what he’d gone through. In his letters, he’d ask about his family, his village. I didn’t know how to play someone who’d been locked up in prison for 22 years.”
Before the release of Sarbjit, the entire cast of the movie including Randeep Hooda, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (who played the role of Sarbjit’s sister), Richa Chadha, Darshan Kumaar, and the producer Jacky Bhagnani, went to a special prayer meeting. This was to remember Sarbjit Singh on his third death anniversary, who died in May 2013.
During the meeting, Randeep Hooda told the reporters that the movie Sarbjit doesn’t depict Pakistan negatively. He said, “I don’t think there is any Pakistan bashing per say in the film. But yes, there are a lot of prisoners over there and some are subjected to atrocities. I am not sure if that happens here as well. If you treat somebody for such things just because of their nationality and not their crime, then, if it happens in India or Pakistan, it is always wrong.”
“The film is based in a Pakistan prison. But there is nothing that we are bashing a country like Pakistan. It’s just a situation where a normal person is stuck between the political ups and downs between the two countries,” Randeep Hooda added.
Randeep Hooda’s recent release Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, another biopic, is currently running in cinemas.