Five years ago, this Electronics Engineering graduate made his acting debut as ‘Bhagat Singh’ in Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh. He was appreciated, but Ajay Devgan and Bobby Deol grabbed attention as their concurrent films in the same role were from bigger setups. But now, Sonu Sood has come a full circle with his second essay of a historical character, as the righteous Rajput prince, Sujamal, in Jodhaa Akbar.

The actor is thrilled at the positive feedback from all quarters including the media and the industry itself. “When I signed the film, I knew from the narration that I will get my due finally!” 

Sonu Sood was also praised for his work in Mani Ratnam’s Yuva and Aashiq Banaya Aapne in which he shared the male lead with Emraan Hashmi. He is happy that his gamble at taking a non-leading yet significant role has paid off. “It was a high enacting a determined prince who cannot tolerate any form of injustice. At a personal level, it was a high getting to work with Ashutosh Gowariker whose body of work I have followed, and to know that he too had been following my work.”

The actor did use the extensive research by Gowariker but added his own inputs too. “I am very lucky because my mother is a professor of History in Punjab. She gave me books about the Mughals, the Rajputs and the 16th century. At the time of doing the Bhagat Singh film, my grandfather too had told me a lot of stories about the martyr, because he had studied in my grandfather's college in Lahore!”

For this reason, and also because he had no set image like Ajay and Bobby, the handsome actor feels that he looked more authentic as the martyr. But since it was a debut film pitted against starry versions of the same story in the same year, wasn’t it a risky gamble as a debut? Sonu Sood shrugs and says, “Every unit was confident that their version would turn out and work the best. What matters is that I was liked and noticed by Mani Ratnam and Aditya Datt!”

About his slow progress till Jodhaa Akbar, he says, “I am a small-town guy and do not belong to a film family. Also, I am not a party person! I prefer to be with my wife and kids and friends. And so we guys have to prove ourselves again and again, though I have also been nominated for different awards for every one of my films till now.”
Sonu Sood now plays the ‘Kinng’ of Sinngh Is Kinng directed by Anees Bazmee. “Akshay Kumar is ‘Sinngh’ and we play buddies in this comedy,” he says. “Then there is Sooraj Barjatya’s film Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi which is a typical, sweet Rajshri family film and love story directed by Kaushik Ghatak with Ishaa Koppikar as my heroine. I had always wanted to be a part of a love story.”

Slow and steady— isn’t that the proverbial way to win the race?