Randeep Hooda recalls driving taxi in Melbourne for 3 years, working as a waiter: ‘The future looked bleak but….’

Randeep Hooda, who is basking in the success of his recent film, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, takes a trip down memory lane and reminisced about the time when he drove a taxi in Melbourne to make a living.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: April 16, 2024 11:28 PM IST

3 min read

Randeep Hooda says he enjoyed his work as cab driver despite his future looking bleak. (Photo: Instagram/randeephooda)

Actor Randeep Hooda recently made his directorial debut with the biopic, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar. In his nearly two-decade-long career, the actor has delivered some powerful performances, which include his portrayal of Sarabjit Singh in Omung Kumar-helmed, Sarbjit. However, what many don’t know about the actor is that he worked as a driver at night in Melbourne, Australia where he was a student. In a recent interview with Bollywood Bubble, the 47-year-old recalled his time as a night cab driver. “Back in the 90s, I drove a taxi for three years to make money as a student. I was pretty good at it,” he shared.

The actor also did a bunch of odd jobs including that of a waiter in a Chinese restaurant to survive in the country, almost twenty years ago “Us waqt aisa lagta tha ki koi future hi nahin dikh raha hai. Abhi bhi aisa hi lagta hai (I used to feel that my future was bleak. I often feel the same way even now). Main darta tab bhi nahin tha aur ab main darta ab hi nahin hoon isliye kyunki main jaat hoon aur hamara yahi attitude hai, ‘Jo hoga dekha jaega.’ (I wasn’t scared of anyone then and I am not scared of anything even now. It is because I am jaat and we have this attitude, ‘Whatever happens, we will see),” he shared.

Randeep shared that despite working as a taxi driver, he earned a good income. “I knew which routes would get me, passengers, when the night clubs would open and close and at what time people left from offices. This helped me earn more than the rest of the taxi drivers I knew.

ALSO READ Kapil Sharma missed AR Rahman’s call, costing him a chance to work on Amar Singh Chamkila: ‘I cried the whole night’

As an ode to his old job, the actor, in 2021, posted a picture of himself standing next to a poster of Robert De Niro’s 1976 film, Taxi Driver, on Instagram. “Where to mate? Inspirations and dreams of the younger me in Cinema. still as inspiring !! So, much so, that I drove Taxis for 3 years, night shift, in Melbourne, Australia,” he captioned the photo.

Following his return to India, he got into modelling and theatre where he was spotted by director Mira Nair, who offered him a part in Monsoon Wedding.

From the homepage