‘Rangeen’ actor Viineet Kumar Siingh says the rise of Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao, who pursue craft over commerce, empowers artistes like him
Viineet Kumar Siingh
A jilted husband-turned-gigolo is a role that Viineet Kumar Siingh had never been offered before. Naturally then, given his pursuit of novelty, the actor was immediately drawn to Rangeen. “I love to experiment. Just reading three episodes of Rangeen, I was sure I wanted to do it,” he smiles.
But before he said yes, the actor wanted to ensure he could trust the makers. The series, which also stars Rajshri Deshpande and Taaruk Raina, is created and written by debutants Amardeep Galsin and Amir Rizvi. “The subject is so sensitive that I needed to consider the people associated with it. I saw that Kabir Khan sir [producer] was there, as was Amazon Prime Video,” he says.
(L-R) Rajshri Deshpande and Viineet Kumar Siingh in ‘Rangeen’
Rangeen tells the story of a woman who is stuck in an unfulfilled marriage and gets involved with a gigolo, which in turn makes her husband reevaluate his life. With the show examining the loneliness of the three prime characters, we ask Siingh whether he experienced loneliness over his two-decade career. “When you come to a city like Mumbai, your beginning itself is with loneliness,” he candidly shares. But to him, it’s not a disadvantage. If anything, he believes the sense of isolation can become an armour for an artiste. “That emotion remains alive inside you and gives you strength. Your spirit will break, and so will your trust every day. This field shines from the outside, but there is emptiness, loneliness, and unemployment, until you create an identity as an artiste. You have to fight that fight alone. There are times when a role that you could do passes you by, but you have to be happy and headstrong.”
Rajkummar Rao and Manoj Bajpayee
Evidently the actor speaks from his personal experience. Having started with smaller roles and finally landing a leading part in Mukkabaaz (2018), he enjoys a stronger position in the industry today with mainstream entertainers like Jaat and Chhaava behind him. He credits the actors before him, who made their craft their singular focus and rose to prominence, for making his path easier. “It’s a long list — Irrfan [Khan] saab, Naseeruddin [Shah] saab, Nawazuddin [Siddiqui], Manoj [Bajpayee] bhai, Rajkummar [Rao], Vicky [Kaushal], and Vijay [Varma]. Ten people placed their trust in me because these actors [paved the way]. If such actors — whom the audience trusts and finds relatable — have gone ahead in their careers, they’ve helped me knowingly or unknowingly.”
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