'We have stopped being a nation which has a conversation. We do not listen to the other's point of view and respond to it with reason. Instead, we label and lynch people for what they say. Where is the democracy?'
Randeep Hooda attempts to have a dialogue with men and women in his new TV show, MTV Big F.
Randeep Hooda recently found himself in the middle of a controversy when he reacted to a tweet. A tweet by Virender Sehwag that seemingly referred to Gurmehar Kaur, the daughter of an Indian Army martyr, about her statement, 'Pakistan didn’t kill my father, war did.'
While he explains himself in a media interaction, he does have a few more things to say as well.
When asked what he felt about the ongoing war of words between Karan Johar and Kangana Ranaut (read about it here), Randeep feels they are entitled to their respective opinions.
The actor, who has worked with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions in films like Bombay Talkies and Ungli -- the latter starred Kangana as well -- says, "Both of them are quite similar actually, so they can fight it out. We don’t have to be part of that conversation. I don’t have to be.
"Why is everybody jumping into it and calling them names? It's getting abusive and we need to control that. We have stopped being a nation which has a conversation. We do not listen to the other's point of view and respond to it with reason. Instead, we label and lynch people for what they say. Where is the democracy?" he asks.
Since he is, like Kangana, an 'outsider' in the film industry, would he agree with her?
“There is nepotism and there isn't," he says diplomatically. "You may get a chance but then you have to prove your talent. If you are talented, nobody can keep you down. And Kangana has done very well for herself."
Randeep is known to go the extra mile to get into his character -- we saw it recently in his latest release Sarbjit -- and he is all set to take on new challenges with his next film, Battle Of Saragarhi. For that, he is sporting long hair and a beard.
"It’s a bit difficult to maintain the hair. I can imagine the plight of all the people who have beards. I have to oil and wash my hair and beard. It gets into all kinds of places and you feel it’s somebody else's hair!" he laughs.
There are rumours that another film is being made on the same subject, co-produced by Karan Johar and Salman Khan, starring Akshay Kumar.
Randeep isn't sure, he says. "It’s a great subject. There were 21 Sikhs in that particular battle. It deserves 21 movies."
Explaining his approach towards his work, he says, "I like to enjoy the process. Even when I was doing theatre, I used to enjoy the rehearsals more than the actual staging of the play. The kind of work and exploration that I do is the biggest reward. If I don’t get an award, it doesn’t change the credibility of my performance. If I do, it doesn’t make it better. So, both ways, an award is of no consequence to me. It is people’s opinion."
Randeep is all set to make his television debut as the host of the second season of MTV’s Big F -- the first season was hosted by Bigg Boss 8's winner Gautam Gulati.
“This show is about the aspiration India where people -- be it a man or a woman -- can talk freely about their thoughts and desires without being labelled. On the other hand, I -- as the show's host -- will address men and make them understand that a woman is not an object of their desire to do as they please with her," he says.
Is the Indian audience ready to consume such progressive content in mainstream television?
"It is 2017. I don't understand why these things are still taboo," Randeep replies.
Considering the fact that women face injustice and violence in daily life and are labelled and judged by society, what if this show gives out wrong ideas about women?
"That is precisely why we are doing the show. One has to understand that enjoying sex and hanging out with boys does not make a girl a slut. A girl is a person first before anything else. When a girl says no, that's a clear no. A man should understand that," said Hooda.
