Happy Birthday Ranjeet

( 12th November 1946 )

' The Rapeman '

It is very interesting to follow the career graph of Ranjeet and to peep into the life of this villain who has done about 200 rapes on screen !

Ranjeet, born as Gopal Bedi in Punjab had an inclination to films since his youth. Being an ardent fan of Dev Anand, he used to mimic almost the entire ' Hum Dono' and 'Guide' line by line. With some connections he landed in Mumbai with a hope to get some work in Films. His first films were ' Sawan Bhado ' and ' Reshma aur Shera'. Sunil Dutta, the producer of Reshma aur Shera, gave him a screen name 'Ranjeet'. On the sets of Reshma aur Shera, on watching his acting caliber, Rakhee suggested his name for 'raping ' her in her forthcoming film Sharmilee. After the negative role in Sharmilee, Ranjeet shot to fame and after successfully undertaking the 'rape job' in a few films thereafter, he was crowned with the title ' The Rapeist Ranjeet ' in the Bollywood !

But Ranjeet had to pay the social cost for this success. Though a strict vegetarian, non- smoker, non- drinker and having the spotless moral character, Ranjeet used to be avoided in parties, especially by ladies who refused to shake hands with him. He also had strain relations with his parents for some time, who walked out of the Premier show of Sharmilee in interval after seeing him 'raping' Rakhee on the Screen.

But Ranjeet continued... raping the heroines, side heroines, hero's sisters, dancers, vamps whoever came in his way... Soon Rape became synonymous with Ranjeet !

Ranjeet's hit films include : Hulchul, Victoria no 203, Dharmatma, Rampur Ka Laxman, Khotey Sikkey, Aap Ki Kasam, Hath ki Safai, Amar Akbar Anthony, Vishwanath, Namak Halal, Sharabi and so on...

Ranjeet called it a day to his negative roles somewhere in 90s and switched to character roles. Presently he is busy in writing, direction and production of the films and tv serials.

In spite of 'raping' so many heroines Ranjeet's married life has remained a life long Honeymoon. His daughter is well known fashion designer and son is expecting a break in the film industry. Ranjeet's innings are long over, however even today I notice someone having shirt unbuttoned till the waist, the image of Ranjeet gets flashed in my mind !