Image shared on X. (Courtesy: samar_ist)
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 wrongly convicted of espionage after accidentally entering Pakistan and endured years in prison 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 used. He said: ‘The first thing I did was stop flushing the toilet. I turned off the bathroom lights, chained my hands and feet, and locked myself around the shower area. I would spend time there. In the beginning it was very difficult. I wrote letters to my director Omung Kumar, which I never actually sent to him.”
In the same conversation, Randeep Hooda also said, “I had read some of his (Sarbjit Singh) letters to his family and I had seen many photos. I knew roughly what he had been through. In his letters he asked about his family, his village. I didn’t know how to play someone who had been in prison for 22 years.”
Before the release of Sarbjit, the entire cast of the film, including Randeep Hooda, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (who played the role of Sarbjit’s sister), Richa Chadha, Darshan Kumaar and producer Jacky Bhagnani, went to a special prayer meeting. This was in memory of Sarbjit Singh on his third death anniversary, who died in May 2013.
During the meeting, Randeep Hooda told reporters that the film Sarbjit does not portray Pakistan negatively. He said: “I don’t think there is necessarily any Pakistani bashing in the film. But yes, there are a lot of prisoners there and some are subjected to atrocities. I’m not sure if that happens here too. If If you are someone for treats such things just because of his nationality and not because of his crime, then it is always wrong when it happens in India or Pakistan.”
“The film is set in a Pakistani jail. But there is nothing that we are bashing a country like Pakistan. It is 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 in theaters.