Ranjeet has etched his name as one of Bollywood’s iconic villains.
Sunil Dutt gave him a break in Reshma Aur Shera and advised him to take up the screen name Ranjeet.
Hindi cinema has witnessed a major change over the last two decades, the most prominent being doing away with typecasting actors. An actor playing the leading man can well be playing a dreaded villain in the very next film. A few decades back, this was not the case. We had specific actors who were cast as villains and they include the legendary actors Prem Chopra, Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor, Ranjeet, Raza Murad and many more. Did you know that one of the actors mentioned above wanted to be in the Air Force and serve his country? He had no intentions of being an actor and was persuaded by a friend to come to Mumbai to join the film industry. Actor Sunil Dutt also played a very important role in his life. Read to know more.
We are talking about Ranjeet, whose real name is Gopal Bedi. A young Gopal, in pursuit of his dream, had enrolled at the National Defense Academy. While training, something took place that changed the course of his life. Gopal fell in love with his trainer’s daughter, something that was not taken lightly by the Academy management. The matter escalated and he was asked to leave the academy.
Gopal then took his friend’s advice to go to Mumbai, looking for work in the film industry. After a period of struggle, he happened to meet Sunil Dutt in a party who immediately took a liking to him. Sunil Dutt gave him a break in Reshma Aur Shera and advised him to take up the screen name Ranjeet. That is how Ranjeet entered the industry.
The film Sharmili proved to be a milestone for him. Ranjeet became a dreaded villain and fans also started fearing him in real life. Ranjeet, in an interview once talked about how his family reacted to his villainy on screen. After taking his family to watch a film of his, he returned home to grave silence and gloom. His mother reportedly told him that the family was ashamed of him for misbehaving with leading ladies on screen and his father asked him why he was playing such roles and bringing dishonour to the family. He said it was a Herculean task to make his parents understand that it was all part of the job.
