The Likeable Star

The Dabangg actor’s passion to play “intriguing characters” in films dates back to the time when he had just entered the industry. An engineer by profession,Sood migrated to Mumbai in the late ’90s with the strong wish to be an actor. “I had given up a profession to become an actor. I had to respect that and choose roles accordingly. I wasn’t going to fool around,” he says. Initially,the struggle for the actor was to get work,so that he could pay his rent and buy groceries. “Like all actors,I came here with the hope to do lead roles. But,I learnt a different lesson soon. I did a shoe ad,where I was one among 20 guys and I wasn’t even seen properly,” he reminisces. But the actor strongly believed that if he continued with his hard work,he would slowly make a mark in the industry.

Like most young actors,he roamed the streets of Mumbai,dropping his portfolio at various places. “I remember going to Famous Studios and Everest Building to get that one chance.” When certain Chennai producers were in Mumbai in search of a lead actress,Sood gave him his pictures with the hope that they would find him work as well. Eventually they did,and Sood’s first film was Kallazghar in Tamil in 1999. “Being a North Indian,I had never thought I would do South Indian films. I did not even understand the languages,” he states. This film was followed by his first break in Bollywood which came in 2002 with Zindagi Khoobsurat Hai.

Sood’s Bollywood career had begun and now it was upto him to mould it the way he wanted. He decided to take it slow,doing bit roles in films. The defining moment came when he bagged an important role in Mani Ratnam’s Yuva. “Many people dissuaded me from doing this role,because they wondered what I would do in a multi-starrer like this one. But I was certain that if I got noticed in that movie,I would have covered a lot of ground,” he says.

Secondly,his stint down South,where he had done almost 35 films by then,made sure that he didn’t choose the wrong films in Bollywood. “My work in Southern cinema also taught me the tricks of the trade and gave me the much-needed schooling in films,” he says.

His foresight paid off,and he bagged films like Jodhaa Akbar,Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi,Singh is Kinng and Dabangg,which catapulted his career and made him a likeable actor. Despite the good run,Sood knows his limitations and even today isn’t keen on playing just lead roles. “I am not a star son that people will queue up outside my house to sign me. I have worked hard to reach where I am today. As long as a script excites me,I will do any role that is offered to me,” he says.