"Of course. Why would I not think he's innocent? Even in Nepal where he's been thrown into prison, he was a straight prisoner," said Randeep when asked by media at the trailer launch if he thought Sobhraj was innocent.
Sobhraj is currently in a jail in Nepal, having been convicted for his numerous brutal murders in the 1970s. He was even convicted and jailed in India from 1976 to 1997.
Randeep is still not convinced. "It's never been proved. He's never been convicted of murder, except for in Nepal now. And that too they did not bring out any evidence, they did not bring any witnesses, and they just prosecuted him, it's absolutely wrong. I think we should start a campaign to get him out."
Numerous gangster films in Bollywood over the years such as "Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai" have glamourised real-life gangsters. But Randep says: "This guy is not a gangster. Yes, he has a chequered past. He insists that he hasn't done anything wrong in his life. Other gangsters might be glamorized because of Charles Sobhraj, but Charles Sobhraj himself is a very glamorous man."
Randeep desires to show Sobhraj the film to show him how accurate his life has been portrayed and he is confident that the latter will be thrilled to watch it.
Asked if he empathized with him, he said yes. "Of course I empathized with him. How can you play a character without empathizing for the character. And no, I didn't feel sorry for him at all, in fact he knows what he is doing and is good at that. In fact sometimes when I get up from sleep, I feel that he knows what I'm doing. It's very strange but that's the kind of omnipresence that this character has."
The film directed by Prawaal Raman also stars Richa Chadda.
