At a place called Kaza in HP, we couldn’t find anything to eat at night, and survived on a mixture of Maggi (noodles) and pulao, but that was the best meal I’ve had throughout the shoot. Himachal Pradesh was lovely as I love mountains. I loved being in Punjab because I got to do things like running in the fields, like Kajol from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge but of course, I didn’t look as beautiful as she did in the film. Sambar in Rajasthan was special, because I celebrated my birthday there, and there was a time during the shoot when I was very content with the place I was in. Which was the most memorable experience?Įvery location is special to me for different reasons, except for Delhi as I hurt myself a lot while shooting there. You’ve shot in six different states for Highway. And this film, further undid the fakeness out of me. As actors, we always play a character onscreen, and even off-screen, in interviews, or at parties there’s a certain way in which actors are expected to behave. What I’ve learned from Imtiaz as a person, and of course, from this film, is to not be fake. So, has working on Highway taught you to express your emotions more freely? For those 52 days that we were shooting, my emotions were out there. Bringing those emotions out in the open was difficult as you learn to conceal your emotions and keep everything inside you, when living in a metropolitian city. And since I’m playing that character, I experienced every emotion that she felt. It was more emotionally draining, because (like you saw in the film) Veera experiences a plethora of emotions. The film required a body language that had to be battered and bruised. I had to run and spend hours in a truck, so my body would hurt, but that only helped in my performance as I didn’t have to pretend I was fine. You learn a lot when you’re challenged at every step. Apart from that, it was physically and emotionally exhausting, I had to push myself a lot, because it was a road trip. The only thing I probably did was to take a few diction classes as I play a Delhi girl, so I had to work on my Hindi. I had to be like a blank sheet of paper, ready to be written on, so the blanker the page, the better. Imtiaz wanted me to be as raw and untouched as possible.
But Highway was definitely challenging for me, physically, and emotionally.
Playing Shanaya in SOTY was also challenging as I didn’t know how to walk in heels, so I learnt to be more poised.
I enjoyed it because when you get dialogues on the spot, it’s spontaneous and looks real.ĭid the film demand a lot from you in terms of getting the character Veera right?Įvery role is challenging. One of my favourite shots in the film involves one of these spontaneous moments, when the location was pretty and Imtiaz (Ali, director) said, ‘Let’s just take one shot here’. There were times when we would create dialogues on the set, since the shot would take inspiration from the location, and I enjoyed that the most. All of it made the process more spontaneous and thrilling.
We also had to constantly worry about the time, mostly about shooting before the sun set. It was exciting because I didn’t know what to expect from a particular place, and the weather conditions would keep changing. It was actually one of the most exciting experiences for me, because there was travelling in Highway, and the route that we took in the film wasn’t the regular tourist route.
Moreover, the Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster actor earned praise for his mind-blowing performances in these movies.After the starry debut in Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year(SOTY), you went the extreme end with your second film, Highway. Both these movies had extremely successful runs at the box office and Jannat 2 earned him a nomination for Stardust Award for best actor.
Randeep Hooda also starred in Kunal Deshmukh’s crime thriller movie Jannat 2, which is a sequel to the Jannat series and Jism 2, which also is a sequel to the Jism series in 2012. Later on, Hooda was recognised for his notable performance in Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster which also earned him an IIFA Award nomination for the best supporting actor.Īlso read: Salman Khan: Check Out The Dabangg Actor's Unforgettable Dialogues Awards and accolades This Milan Lutharia’s gangster drama was a turning point in his career. Randeep worked in various unsuccessful films before he bagged a role in Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai in 2010. The film starring him in the lead role for the first time did not gain much attention from the audience. After waiting for almost four years, Randeep appeared in Ram Gopal Varma’s crime thriller drama D in 2005. The actor garnered praise for this brilliant performance in the movie. Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda kick-started his career in the Hindi film industry with Monsoon Wedding in 2001.