Let’s all say in unison...Aayeeee (with a weird and naughty expression on face). We know you are getting the drift. Yes, we are talking about the real bad man of the industry, Ranjit. This veteran actor has been entertaining fans for more than four decades now. Well…it’s true that whenever Ranjit’s name is coined, one visualizes a scene wherein he holds a girl on a knife point and rapes her. Bu talk to the man and you will realise how well-mannered, decent and gem of a person he is. He recently won hearts in the movie Housefull 2 and on the tube, he is a part of Zee TV’s Hitler Didi (Trilogy Krikos) as Ranjit Kukreja. Tellychakkar.com entered into a conversation with Ranjit and found out some more interesting things about him. Here’s sharing; You’re playing a negative character again in Hitler Didi. Don’t you feel the urge to experiment with your roles? I don’t mind playing a negative or a positive character till the role and the scenes are interesting enough. And I have done variety of roles in movies, TV and theater. Things do get a little monotonous after a certain point of time but I like television as the medium gives a lot more space to explore and experiment. Furthermore, TV has a wider reach now and is no different from films. A show has a director, co-actors, dialogues, lights, camera and all the necessary action. So there is not really a big difference. So are you satisfied with the kind of roles you get offered these days? Frankly speaking, these days you do not get character roles in movies. In fact, the competition is so much that even the lead ladies of the movies are doing item numbers. Earlier, we had Helen, Indu and Aruna Irani who would do these item numbers but that’s not the case anymore. Hence, movies have nothing to do with what I used to do earlier. One would always see me pulling dupattas and sarees but now with the ladies wearing minimum attire there is nothing to pull really (laughs). This is one reason why I take up TV shows as it gives me work satisfaction. Over the years, what are the changes you have witnessed in the entertainment industry? I think the trend just keeps changing. Earlier the music directors would compose songs and then the writers would work on the story. They would even discuss the storyline on the sets of the movie, which is not the case now. The actors aren’t here just to act as they all have their own production houses. They all are so obsessed with their work. I have worked in around 500 films but the amount of compliments I have received for my role in Housefull 2 is something that never happened to me before. But for me as an actor it wasn’t really a “role” as such for I completed shooting the sequences in just 5 to 6 hours. Then why did you take up the role? The thing with me is that when my friends from the fraternity come to me and tell to do a guest appearance, I just can’t say ‘no’ to them. Because I think I still have some values. Any experience that you’d like to share from the sets of Housefull 2? I would like to tell you from where the beauty beauty… beti beti lines came up in Housefull 2. I actually went on the sets for my shoot and Asin seemed too scared to come close to me, hence Akshay (Kumar) told her that I was like her father. And I said beti bhi hai beauty bhi hai. And then we finally turned it into a scene where you see me saying beauty beauty… beti beti. Are you fine being popularly known as the “rapist” of the Hindi film industry? For me, back then any role was a role. So I did whatever came my way. Playing a villain was always more challenging for me as I was on the same platform as the hero, minus the songs. In fact, when there would be any usual love scene in the movie the audience would be resting on their sits but the minute I’d enter they’d all get alert. I think I wouldn’t have ever managed to grab that attention had it not been for the negative roles I played all these years. Didn’t you ever feel the need to change your image at some point of time? I have done a variety of roles but the movies in which I played negative characters turned out to be popular and thus people started recognizing me in that avatar. Unlike now, earlier movies would run in theaters for months, thus making an imprint in the minds of the people. So I started getting more negative roles than positive. So people at times find it difficult to differentiate between real and reel Ranjit? Yes, there are times when people expect me to smoke and eat non-veg and when I do not do that they get upset. In real life, I am completely a different person. I drink occasionally, I am not a smoker and I am a pure vegetarian. But every time I go out for parties people run behind me with meat because of my on-screen image. What do you have to say about the younger lot of actors? I do not see much of TV or movies but on the sets where I have worked of late I have seen these actors being selfishly involved in their work. They all want to benefit out of their work and they are very much focused. Now they even have gyms on the sets. But somehow I feel the newer lot doesn’t put soul into their acting. They all work for money and they make a lot of bucks by endorsing some brands. Any tips for the newbies? I don’t know acting much and as far as the younger lot is concerned I think they are intelligent as they come trained from some well known acting institutes. These days these actors work really hard on their scenes but back then, we would start acting the minute our director said ‘action’ and we’d start doing masti the minute he’d say ‘cut’. We would never take those characters with us. We knew the art of switching on and switching off, which I don’t see these days.