/> Randeep Hooda has just come back from two weeks of visiting the places that the 19th century master of calendar- art Ravi Raja Varma had inhabited in Kerala.

"And it was uncanny, spooky and eerie," shivers Randeep. "I felt I was living Ravi Raja Varma's life all over again. On many occasions I felt his shadow pass over me. It was strange frightening and yet exhilarating. An actor lives for that moment when a real-life role claims him completely. I've achieved that one-ness with my character in this film."

So complete was Randeep's identification with the character of Raja Ravi Varma in Kerala he began to eat talk and even look like Ravi Raja Varma. Randeep has even started painting, just like the character of the calendar-art maestro that he plays in Ketan Mehta's bi-lingual Rang Rasiya.

"Though I had never been to Kerala before I felt I had already seen all the places that Varma had frequented. We shot in Trivandrum and in Ravi Raja Varma's birth place Kilimanoor,and it felt like I had entered a different time zone and an alternate reality."

Randeep feels he has truly taken a leap into a different time and creative zone with this role. "I've never felt more in-character. When I was in Kerala I felt I was re-living the character's life in all its details."