Randeep Hooda regrets skipping ‘Rang De Basanti’: “Meri jaat akad aa gayi”

In a twist straight out of a Bollywood drama, Randeep Hooda has revealed a major “what if” from his early career—turning down a pivotal role in ‘Rang De Basanti’, the 2006 film that went on to become a cultural touchstone.

The actor recently sat down with Shubhankar Mishra and opened up about how he was ‘this close’ to playing the iconic role of Bhagat Singh in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s film. The part eventually went to Siddharth, but had things gone differently, we might have seen Hooda standing alongside Aamir Khan and company in one of the most memorable ensembles in modern Hindi cinema.

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“I gave the audition and I liked it,” Randeep recalled. “Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra would even come to me, sometimes driving drunk,” he said with a chuckle. “He used to tell me, ‘Kar le, kar le picture kar le.’ I’d tell him to drive safely. I really wanted to do that film.”

 

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But fate—or perhaps a little too much pride—had other plans.

Around the same time, Ram Gopal Varma approached Hooda with a lead role in ‘D’ (2005), a gritty gangster film that marked a turning point in Randeep’s early career. According to Hooda, Varma convinced him with a simple question: “Do you want to stand behind Aamir on the poster?”

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And that’s when, in Randeep’s own words, ‘”Meri Jaat akad nikal aayi”‘—roughly translating to, “My Jaat pride got in the way.”

“I said, ‘I won’t stand behind Aamir.’ So, I chose ‘D’. And I also walked away from ‘Rock On’ for similar reasons,” he added, referencing the hit 2008 musical drama starring Farhan Akhtar.

Looking back, Randeep Hooda admits that these decisions might have cost him a smoother rise in the industry. “If I had done ‘Rang De Basanti’, I would have entered a different league. That film could have changed the game for me,” he confessed.

‘Rang De Basanti’, for context, was not just another film. It was a powerful coming-of-age drama about a group of college friends who awaken to activism after acting in a documentary about India’s freedom fighters. With a stellar cast—Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, and others—the film struck a deep chord with young audiences and critics alike.

Randeep reflected on his career choices with candid honesty: “I’ve mostly worked with different kinds of filmmakers—people outside the typical Bollywood inner circle. That might be why my growth was slower. I used to believe that craft alone was enough. But it’s not.”