Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Gopal Bedi, popularly known by his screen name Ranjeet, carved a niche for himself in the film industry and became one of the most popular villains of all time.
However, he has often been misunderstood by people due to his on-screen baddie image. One such incident that came to light was when Madhuri Dixit refused to do a scene with him in ‘Prem Pratigya’.
In the film, Madhuri played poor man’s daughter and Ranjeet was supposed to molest her.
Ranjeet recalled, “She (Madhuri) started crying and refused to do the scene. I was unaware of the situation… some art director had told me. There was a Bengali art director. Our director was Bapu, he was from South. I used to have fun on the sets, like when I would tell my co-stars, ‘darling thoda udhar muh karo mai change kar leta hu’. I was not even used to going to the makeup room. Very normal and all that. I was accepted like that; otherwise, they would say I’m fake.”
He stated, “…I used to share a good bond with the fight masters and technicians. I was very cool with them, everybody. Not a status lover… Then, what happened, there was a handcart. Madhuri’s father in the movie was poor and used to pull a handcart. The molestation scene was on the handcart. I was waiting for her but nobody told me what was happening. Ultimately, she agreed. Veeru Devgan was the fight master. He said that we will keep rolling the camera: ‘beech mein camera cut nahi hona chahiye’.”
Ranjeet shared that he never made his co-actors uncomfortable.
He said, “And all my heroines were very fond of me. And because I never used any force, I used to take my face behind their hair. I used to encourage them by encouraging them to pull my hair, scratch my face with their nails and all that. I used to give commentary to them. And not using my force and all that.”
“Molestation is a part of our job. The villain is not bad. With every heroine, it was compulsory,” Ranjeet added.
Ranjeet has worked in over 500 films in his filmy journey. Some of his notable performances include appearances in films such as ‘Sharmeelee’, ‘Bandhe Haath’, and ‘Namak Halal’. He continues to leave his mark, as evidenced by his roles in ‘Behen Hogi Teri’, ‘Housefull 2’, and ‘Housefull 4’.
