Actor Randeep Hooda, who’s had a hat-trick of sorts with three back-to-back hits, admits that while his roles in Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai and Sahib, Biwi Aur Gangster were much-appreciated, it’s post his latest release Jannat 2 that the industry’s looking at him with renewed interest. So, from playing the second fiddle, the actor’s now looking at scripts where he’s the solo lead.

But Randeep insists that acting in a solo or a multi-starrer film is never a criteria for choosing a film. “Ï agree that being offered solo hero projects is encouraging, but for me the only pull are films that excite me or challenge me in some way,” he says.As for the sudden jump in the credibility of the actor, Randeep adds that it’s difficult to point out what triggered the change. “Well, I’ve always been here, but I think the perception of my bankability increasing over the past months has much to do with the fact that there’s been a merging of appreciation as well as success for me at the BO,” explains the actor who’s currently working in Jism 2.

There’s also buzz in the industry about Randeep being the new blue-eyed boy of the Bhatts, now that their favoured actor Emraan Hashmi is busy with films outside the banner. But the actor waves it off. “The only thing here is that I trust them, so whenever they have a good project, I’d want to work with them,” he adds. About the other buzzword, marketing, the actor insists that he’s yet to get a hang of that bit.

“I’ve always believed that if you do good work, you will be noticed, whether you feature on the posters or not and I would want to stick to that belief,” he adds. On a high professionally, the actor’s personal life too is buzzing with talks of him tying the knot with rumoured girlfriend, actor Neetu Chandra soon. But the actor is quick to dismiss all such talks. “No marriage talk please. I am not getting married anytime soon,” he says. “There was a time, when I used to speak about my personal life, but now I realise that I don’t want to be in the news for my link-ups. I am here in my capacity as an actor, so I’d rather be spoken about for my work than relationships. All my focus is on my work alone,” quips Randeep.