Randeep Hooda hadn’t made a movie in three years when Extraction came his way. The 43-year-old actor plunged into the film that sees him play the morally ambiguous Saju and also required him to film some heavy-duty action scenes.
The Telegraph caught up with Randeep on what made him sign on the Netflix film and if his Hollywood debut is a step towards a career in the West.
What hooked you about Extraction?
I had been preparing to do a film based on the Battle of Saragarhi for almost three years. I didn’t do any other work at that time and when Extraction was offered to me, it was make or break for that movie, and finally we realised that Saragarhi was not going to happen. I gave an audition for the role in Extraction. This after 20 years of coming to Bombay when I had thought I would make a showreel and go off to Hollywood! (Laughs) But here I was, 20 years later and after a fair bit of work, in Aram Nagar (known as the networking hub for the film and TV industry in Mumbai) giving an audition to (casting director) Tess Joseph on her little phone camera. This was for Extraction, one of the biggest films in recent times for some of the biggest names in the global movie business, what with the Avengers series and everything.
I gave the audition and they really liked it. And then came the question of what to do with my long hair and beard. Sam (Hargrave, the film’s director) and I had a chat about it and I told him, ‘If I have to clip it then I may as well take it off’. So I went to the gurdwara and apologised to the gurus and said, ‘It’s for my work and I have to move on’.
I really liked the script. It’s a big action film and the fact that Chris Hemsworth was in it made it a great film to be a part of. What also worked for me was that my role isn’t the token Indian character you get to see in most Hollywood films. You know, stereotypical nerdy parts like millionaire or the IT guy wearing glasses and speaking with an accent and staring into the computer screen (laughs). For me, this was an opportunity to do something that actors from India haven’t done in a Hollywood film before... and that was old-school action. All these things combined made me want to do the film. I have given it my best shot.
Randeep Hooda spars with Chris Hemsworth in an action-packed scene in Extraction Still from the movie
What did you have to do to get into the mindspace of Saju whose moral ambiguity makes him one of the most interesting characters in the film?
One doesn’t really have to work towards that because we are all morally ambiguous (laughs). Those kind of characters have always appealed to me. Sam and I discussed a lot of films belonging to the Western genre. Both he and I have grown up very close to horses and watched many Sergio Leone movies and we both love the work of the writer called Louis L’amour whose books I have read many times. We started talking about that and then moved on to more Asian movies and literature, the samurai movie zone, and he made me look like that. We discussed many things about Saju... his look, the driving force behind what he does and then, of course, the action rehearsals started. Going physically hand to hand for hours in a day and you know that you can’t hurt anybody and yet your reflexes and your response have to be on point.... So, precision in thought and action brought about another layer to the character.
Plus, the film is about family... from the point of view of all the characters. Every character deals, at various stages and in different degrees, with family, or the loss of it. All those things came together to make up Saju. Sam is an old hand at action and while everyone expected the film’s action to be superlative, it’s also its strong emotional content that has lent so much depth to the film’s action.
Were you, at any point, intimidated by the fact that you would have to do action on such a large scale?
On the first day! (Laughs) I got a message on my phone telling me about this hardcore action scene I would have to do on the first day itself and I looked at Sam and said, ‘Whaaat?!’ And he just raised his eyebrows and said, ‘This is what you have to do, so do it!’ (Laughs) But then step by step, we went through all of it and then Chris also came in with 100 per cent commitment. We sweated over each other and hurt each other a couple of times (laughs) and as Sam says, ‘You don’t really know a person till you have fought him’ (laughs).
Are you looking at this film as taking a step towards the West?
Well, my first film, Monsoon Wedding, was produced by an American company and had Mira Nair directing it. I then worked with Deepa Mehta in a film called Beeba Boys, which was about Punjabi gangsters but it didn’t release in India. I have stepped there before. But with Extraction — because of the sheer scale and the reach it comes with, it’s going to so many countries at the same time — it will probably enhance my chances of getting good roles over there as well.
Cinema today is a global phenomenon. Over the last two days, I have been watching this Israeli series called Fauda. I am hoping that Extraction will open up a few doors for me in the West.
