Rape scenes were shot as per the director's advice, says onscreen baddie Ranjeet

There was a time when rape scenes were permanent fixtures in Hindi cinema almost like item numbers are in present day Bollywood. And the man responsible for raping beautiful women, inevitably had to be the one and only, Ranjeet. The actor was the ultimate baddie who made his presence felt every time a director needed someone to tear off the clothes of the actress. His most memorable line before raping his horror ridden actress still elicits claps - Maa behan toh hain mere ghar mein, lekin tum nahi ho jaaneman. The exit of Ranjeet almost brought the curtains down on rapes in Bollywood. The yesteryear actor now prefers to make guest appearances in movies and rape scenes today for him are just memories of the good old days when Indian cinema was at its very best in terms of acting and storytelling. Ask him about the rapes that he has committed onscreen, Ranjeet says, "Rapes were also choreographed like other acts. I never ever realised that I am mouthing dialogues, trying to rape or fight in the picture. Rape scenes were shot as per the director's advice." Ranjeet prides on having shared a great rapport with his female co-stars which according to him made the 'rape' easy. "One needs to develop that comfort level with the actress. You should be comfortable with her and she should be at ease while shooting with you." Remembering a particular shot, Ranjeet narrates, "I had my face buried in the long hair of my heroine during the scene. I had to then tell her to slowly pull my hair back so as to show resistance. And once she did that, I softly asked her to scratch my face with her nails and escape. So this is the way we used to operate. Mil-julke kaam karna padtha tha. (We had to work in tandem, as a team)." Quiz him on what was the most difficult part about raping onscreen, pat comes Ranjeet's reply."There was no difficulty at all." Ranjeet will now be seen in an upcoming action Hindi movie, Spark.