Randeep Hooda to play Kapil Dev in new film?

Randeep Hooda and (right) Kapil Dev

Buzz is that Randeep Hooda will play Kapil Dev in Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan's project based on the Indian cricket team's World Cup triumph in 1983.

Randeep Hooda and (right) Kapil Dev

Randeep, however, simply asks, "From where did you get the news?"

The director remained unavailable for comment, but sources maintain that the actor is keen on being part of Chauhan's film who earlier directed Lahore (2009).

The filmmaker has been doing a lot of research and gathering information from Kapil Dev, who led the team to the historic victory.

Although Randeep is a sports enthusiast and owns a polo team, the actor has not yet associated with any sports league because he is "not looking for publicity".

He says, "Actors promoting various sports have not invested in them, they have only put their name on the teams. They don't even play those sports. I have my own team, play the game and also get featured on the entertainment as well as the sports pages."

Meanwhile, Randeep is looking forward to his upcoming film, Rang Rasiya. "I decided to do this film only because I like Ketan Mehta's work. Two of my all-time favourite films - Ghulami and Mirch Masala - were made by him. They were original and carried a message. Sholay is an obvious favourite for some but it has been copied from many films," he says.

The actor, who plays an artist in Rang Rasiya based on the controversial life of 19th century painter Raja Ravi Varma, advocated freedom of expression in the field of art. "Censorship is an individualistic concept. There was a case against of obscenity against Raja Ravi Varma after he passed away. In 2000, MF Hussain was asked to leave his country just because he painted Hindu goddesses in the semi-nude state. People asked why did he, as a Muslim, paint Hindu gods and not Allah. But then Muslim gods do not have a face or shape. It is all political polarisation. Pelting stones at an artist is foolproof way of drawing attention," he adds.