Randeep Hooda Added Every Color From His Pallette In Shankar

 

There was more of Shankar rather than just a swanky young matured Jatt Blood Thief mafia. What really stands out of the Hindi film Laal Rang (2016) apart from its fresh script and vivid characters that floats in the movie like lifelike images is the depth Randeep Hooda and the director Syed Ahmed Afzal has given to character, Shankar.

Shankar is a gutsy, witty, smart, badasss mafia yet big hearted. He resides in an old abandoned house in Karnal, Haryana and there is nothing fancy about his house. Yet he is liberal to his friends. He Bestows gifts and money. His character is one of those like of Leonardo DiCaprio from Blood Diamond (2007), the one who plays the villain card and sometimes acts as a messiah of poor. A man with extreme generosity and wickedness. Two souls in one body. This can be again seen when he opens up his locker as throws all the money and leaves the room in front of his greedy friend who had just grabbed his collar for not giving him fair share. This shows the magnanimous attitude he carried.  

He keeps calm at most of the time even though he is Jatt! Quite a contrast. There is a scene in the movie in which when he gets up late in the morning, carries his tape recorder, plays it, lights his cigarette and watches the aquarium tank. Now a tape recorder is ok and so is the cigarettes but why fishes? In case you don’t know many people use Aquarium as it provides potential health benefits. It is called Aquarium therapy. It has been scientifically proved that watching fishes in an aquarium tank can reduce tremendous amount of stress and anxiety. Beside it also reduces muscle tension and pulse rate. But the main question is from where all the stresses of the world runs into him? Now that interesting question. I’ll tell you why.

Tell me what does Shankar deals with all day long?

Blood

What is the color of blood?

Red

Now I don’t know if you are aware or not. Psychology says red color increases the pulse and heart rate, and raise your blood pressure. The interesting thing about red color is that it is active, aggressive and outspoken. I know what you are thinking. Dear reader I’m not bluffing if you don’t believe me have a look at it.

https://www.psychologistworld.com/perception/color.php

Moreover in a job as riskier as his and as stressful as his, he has found his own therapeutic method. And there is no point in a movie in which he loses his cool unnecessarily. I love when there is a lot of thinking by directors and actors in development of a character. That’s what makes the character larger than life and becomes cult when the coming generations watch it. Isn’t that is quite thoughtful from the director’s part. Moreover red is such a color that it can create an obsession once you are into it. The last line of the movie which happens to be of Shankar again justifies it.

“Chai chor diya, cigarette bhi chor diya par ye lal rang na chute he mujse!”

So how is Shankar as a lover? I think none better than this short scene would sum him up.

Rajesh: Kya hua bhai?

Shankar: Aaj Breakup ho gaya bhai. Final wala.

Rajesh: Kaise?

Shankar opens up message box of his phone and reads the SMS from his girlfriend out loud

“Shankar mere mummy papa tumhe kabhi nahi accept karengey. Aur me apne parents ka dil nahi tod sakti. Ho sake to muje bhul jao. Please understand”

Rajesh: Toh bhai? Ab Kya Karengey?

Shankar: Understand!

Chori he yaar. Jo bole wohi karengey

Totally cool. Although it may sound careless lover but inside his heart you can see an ardent lover in him which is evident as he keeps his girlfriend’s photo inside his safety deposits, in his wallet and thinks about her every time when he is alone.

There is something different in the way Shankar carries himself. With the way he walks you can notice some sort of Sashaying attitude just like Johnny Depp character in one of his recent movie The Rum Diary (2011). White watching Laal Rang I sensed there was some conjugation between both of the characters. Both were avid smoker and used to keep their calm by keeping their mind limbered from all the stressful environment by their own way.

I think none better than Randeep Hooda could have played Shankar. Especially if we considering all the colors he had to fill in the character. Shankar is like white light. Filled with many humanness colors of emotions which are only visible when it passes through a reality check called prism. There was so much in him to be explored by the audience than just an obsessive and passionate red color.