EXCLUSIVE: Sonu Sood did not like being called a villain in his first film with Mahesh Babu; here’s why

During the lockdown, actor Sonu Sood got on the field and did everything he could to help out people in distress because of the COVID-19 pandemic-induced-lockdown. From helping migrants reach their hometown to funding education for kids, the actor has been in the news for his philanthropic work from the past few months. This new image of the actor has impacted his professional life as well. The actor who has largely played negative characters is now being approached for the role of a larger-than-life hero. In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama, Sonu Sood recalls the time he was addressed as a villain on sets and how tables have turned now.

Recalling the time he was called a villain on set for the first time he said, "I still remember the day I was shooting for my first South film with Mahesh Babu. The action director of the film was Peter Hein. There was a scene and he asked to call the hero and I was thinking that even I came here to become a hero. Then he said let's take the villain’s shot and I did not like that at all. I was playing the villain, but why am I being addressed like that. Then I realised that it is acting and both the hero and villain are equally important and then going forward I played both positive and negative characters. But when I started shooting now, and that roles have changed, I realised that people's perspective of you keeps changing.”

Sonu Sood made his acting debut with the 1999 Tamil films like Kallazhagar and Nenjinile. He was then introduced as an antagonist in the Telugu film Hands Up! in 2000. He then began starring in Hindi films, with Shaheed-E-Azam, as Bhagat Singh in 2002.

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