- 7/22/2025
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FunTranscript
00:00Dubai is your base even now. You are 64 now.
00:02Absolutely. This is home for me, Manjusha.
00:05This is where I want to be.
00:08Dubai is the city of dreams.
00:11As cliched as it may sound, this is the city of dreams.
00:17All you need to do is grab the opportunity.
00:19Hi everyone, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan.
00:22I am the entertainment editor, Gulf News.
00:24Today I have the privilege in our latest Dubai Success Series
00:28to speak to Puneet Sood.
00:30He is a model at 60.
00:32He came with Durham 7 in his pocket in Dubai several decades ago.
00:36And he has an amazing story to tell,
00:39including a Hollywood splash with Academy winner Jeremy Irons.
00:44Thank you, Puneet.
00:45I think Gulf News and you have a special connect, right?
00:49Very emotional, very sentimental, Manjusha.
00:52Because I was an employee of Gulf News.
00:55March 1991, the month my son was born, the year my son was born.
01:02And what I thought would be probably a two or three year journey with the newspaper,
01:06with the publication.
01:07I stayed with Gulf News for almost 12 and a half years.
01:11Excellent.
01:13Very privileged, very honoured.
01:15And when I go down memory lane that I was part of the team which launched Friday Magazine,
01:21an iconic publication again, which I think sent or set a benchmark for magazines,
01:28especially when it was a magazine associated with the newspaper.
01:33Very proud to be part of the team.
01:36You know, but what I find fascinating about Puneet, your journey is that you reinvented yourself at 60.
01:44Every Indian person who lives in Dubai will tell you after 60, I'll go back home, have a retired life.
01:51But you seem to have begun life.
01:53You seem to have, you know what, started exploring your vanity side, so to speak, because modelling is tough.
01:59What was that like?
02:00What made you become a model at 60?
02:02That's a very interesting question, Manjusha, because I hate to use the word retire for starters,
02:11because to me, retiring is like retiring a car which no longer works, you know,
02:15and I still had enough of steam in me, enough of fuel in me.
02:20Let me be honest with you again, Manjusha.
02:22The detractors, they had the knives out even before I was off the blocks.
02:2760, they said.
02:28He doesn't even have a, he doesn't even have chiseled abs, he doesn't have a, you know,
02:34hair like which could put a lion's mane to shame, and at 60, you know,
02:38he should be warming his bones in the sun, playing around with his grandkids,
02:42and making frequent trips to the bakala.
02:45Six years later, in almost 50 plus shoots,
02:49I am proud to tell you that, yes, I am doing the rounds, but I'm doing the rounds of sets.
02:56I am warming my bones, but I'm warming my bones-shooting outdoors,
03:01and yes, I still find time to play with my three granddaughters.
03:05No, I love that. I love that. You proved every detractor wrong,
03:08because it's such an ageist world we live in. Forget sexist, that's one.
03:12Yes.
03:12But there's also ageism that you deal with, and you just said that you were on the brink of like self-harm.
03:18Indeed.
03:18And then you decided, you know what, there must have been that point, right,
03:23while you were really, things were looking very dark.
03:26Who was that one person, or what was that one event that said,
03:29you know what, I'm just going to survive this?
03:33Again, that's again a very interesting question, Manjusha.
03:36And I was sitting with a friend of mine, actually he was a client of mine,
03:41and we were having coffee together, and, you know, he looked at me, he said,
03:46this is not you. Why are you feeling and looking so down?
03:50And I said, well, you know, I spoke about the disease to him.
03:55And then I noticed, Manjusha, that the man had a worried look on his face as well.
04:00And I said, everything okay with you?
04:05And he glanced out through the window of his office, and there was a shoot,
04:10and I didn't even know what a shoot was, speaking very honestly with you.
04:15And he said, you know what, we're shooting a commercial in our stores down there,
04:20and the gentleman who was supposed to play the grandfather hasn't turned up,
04:24and we've got the entire team down there waiting for him to pop in.
04:28And I frankly, and then he looks at me and says, you know what?
04:33Why don't you do it?
04:34Can you play the grandfather?
04:37And the look I had on my face, I said, what?
04:40He said, yes. Can you play the grandfather?
04:43He says, it's very simple, just walk up, smile, and go away.
04:47And it was a blink and you miss three-second scene, Manjusha.
04:52I shall never forget, it was the first ever shoot in my...
04:55Where was it? Which locality are we looking at?
04:58This was in Dubai, one of the big stores out here.
05:01It was a furniture store, and I did the scene.
05:04Lovely.
05:05And then, you know, in those three seconds, Manjusha,
05:08it struck me that a model doesn't necessarily have to be young.
05:12A model doesn't necessarily have a Gregory Peck-like jawline.
05:18And a model doesn't need to have hair.
05:20And I said, look, I think I've made it.
05:24I'm a star.
05:25And I went home and I told my wife, I said, forget the coffee.
05:28I'm a star, honey.
05:29You know, I've done a three-second shoot.
05:33That was a childlike excitement I experienced that day.
05:37But that is where it all started.
05:40I love that.
05:41And then one thing, you know, led to another.
05:44And slowly but steadily word spread around that this gentleman with his sinister old ugly looks
05:52is available for modeling.
05:53He is something different.
05:55Give him a crack.
05:56I remember during COVID, Manjusha, as I was asked to audition for a Dubai tourism ad.
06:05I had no idea, no inkling of what the role was all about and who was I going to be paired opposite.
06:13To cut a long story short, I was paired opposite Jessica Alba and Zac Efron.
06:19No way.
06:20Yes.
06:20No way.
06:21See, now that's what I said.
06:23Dubai is one place.
06:24Who would have thought, Puneet, working in Gulf News, you know, running marketing campaigns.
06:30You know what?
06:30I'll share the screen space with Jessica Alba and Zac.
06:33Tell me about their hair.
06:35I'm sorry.
06:35Both of them have such cute looking hair.
06:37Gorgeous hair.
06:38Gorgeous hair.
06:39Did you feel bad?
06:40You know, I felt special because during that shoot, I stood out because I had no hair.
06:47Well done, you.
06:48Sir.
06:49I like how optimistic you are.
06:51You're like, you know what?
06:52Forgive the golden curls.
06:53It's okay.
06:54I'm good.
06:56I'm good.
06:56But what was it like?
06:57Tell me all about acting with Jessica Alba and Zac Efron.
07:01It was a fascinating experience, Manjusha.
07:04I still remember that it was a six-hour shoot.
07:07It was COVID.
07:08So, there were the obvious rules and regulations which were put in place.
07:17And we shot, if I remember right, we shot at the Dubai Opera House.
07:23Oh, lovely.
07:23She was sitting 10 yards away from me with her entourage and I had, again, for the first time in my career, I had a chair to myself.
07:36I was not sharing sitting space with any other star over there.
07:39And I, if I remember right again, I had about three lines to say to her.
07:46And then she responds and then Zac comes on, takes a picture.
07:50He had a couple of lines.
07:51I just said to myself is that I am who I am.
07:56And I had simply to build up the self-confidence in me that it was me.
08:00I promise you, I was not over-odd.
08:03Okay.
08:04It must go to the credit of both Jessica and Zac that they made me feel absolutely...
08:09In fact, yes, now I remember.
08:12During a break and shoot, we were having a coffee and she said, you know what?
08:17You remind me of my grandfather.
08:18Oh, you got grandfather zoned.
08:21Grandpa zoned.
08:22We were completely at ease, Manjusha, because, you know, that kind of broke the ice between us.
08:28And the whole thing went off like a breeze.
08:31Excellent.
08:32Shortly after that, I did a small little cameo with Shah Rukh Khan as well.
08:36No way.
08:37Because that particular campaign, there was a campaign for the international markets and there was a campaign for the subcontinent.
08:43Oh, subcontinent meaning?
08:45I'm sorry, my geography is...
08:46That would be, I would imagine it would be India, Pakistan and the subcontinent in particular.
08:52I see. Okay, okay.
08:53So, you were shooting in Dubai with Shah Rukh?
08:57Yes.
08:57What is that?
08:58Like, I love it.
08:58Again, COVID.
08:59Again, COVID.
09:00COVID was really like a time when you really made, hey, huh?
09:04We did.
09:05We did.
09:05In fact, in fact, Manjusha, now that we talk of COVID, there was another opportunity which I fluffed up.
09:12I got a call from Mumbai, from one of the casting homes over there.
09:15And they said, look, we've seen her this and we've seen her profile.
09:18There is a commercial which we're planning to shoot during COVID in Mumbai.
09:24This was with Hrithik Roshan.
09:25Oh, lovely.
09:26And they said, now again, I jog my memory, but I think if I remember right, this was a role to play an auctioneer.
09:33I won't name the brand.
09:35Yes, of course.
09:35But I was to play the auctioneer.
09:37I got selected, Manjusha, and I chickened out.
09:41I said, COVID, Mumbai, no, I'm not going.
09:43That's fair enough.
09:44And also your age also.
09:45I mean, we have to be careful.
09:46Age was a factor, yes.
09:47You know, of course, I mean, you can't fall sick.
09:48But Shah Rukh Khan, what was that like?
09:51Okay, so we were shooting on a DAO.
09:53And the setting essentially was that our Indian family were having their wedding in Dubai on a DAO.
10:00And the plot was that I invite Shah Rukh over to the party as a surprise to my granddaughter.
10:07A cameo.
10:08Oh, it was a cameo.
10:09The star cameo was in our Indian wedding.
10:11We were there three in the afternoon rehearsing.
10:14The great man himself, he drives in at about 8.30, 9 in the evening.
10:21Fashionably late, isn't it?
10:22Sorry?
10:23Was he fashionably late?
10:24He was.
10:25He was.
10:26He's always late.
10:27But then I said to myself that someday I shall be fashionably late again.
10:32I'm just kidding.
10:32That's it.
10:33I want to be as famous as Shah Rukh where time starts when I get into the room.
10:39He said that.
10:40How well.
10:40He said that.
10:41Really?
10:42At a press conference, he actually said, time starts when I enter the room.
10:45I was like, did you say that?
10:47I don't know.
10:47It's a part of Film Folklore.
10:48But that's a very powerful statement, isn't it?
10:50It is.
10:50Time starts when I enter the room.
10:51I love it.
10:52I don't know if it is an Amitabh Bachchan line.
10:54But anyway, going forward, yeah, he's fashionably tardy.
10:56Yes.
10:57But yes.
10:58So what was it like with him?
10:59So he came up and very rightfully so.
11:03He said that let's keep a distance.
11:05It's COVID.
11:06And I could fully subscribe to his concern.
11:10Yes.
11:10Essentially, the whole scene was a dance celebrating the wedding.
11:16He walks up the stairs of the Dow, knocks, comes in and everybody goes, Shah Rukh.
11:22And you are the grandfather who made it happen for the granddaughter.
11:24I was the grandfather who essentially receives him at the door.
11:27But unfortunately, I think that piece of script which we had was edited.
11:32So you did not feature ultimately in the end?
11:34I did.
11:34But again, it was a you blink and you miss me appearance.
11:39Okay.
11:39But that's the thing.
11:40I was again two feet away from the man.
11:44You came to Dubai with seven dirhams in your pocket and you were talking about passion, right?
11:51How you want to keep it alive.
11:52I think Dubai is one of the cities that's almost like a catalyst to dreams.
11:57Like you have a dream, it could happen.
11:59You could wing it.
12:00It can only happen in this city.
12:02I can assure you it can only happen in Dubai, Manjusha.
12:06Why is that?
12:06Because there is a strange aura again about the city where it gives you hope.
12:14There are times you're in the dumps, you're thinking of what next.
12:20And then out of nowhere comes what next.
12:23I began my career as a door-to-door salesperson over here, Manjusha.
12:28What were you hawking?
12:30I was hawking everything from branded t-shirts to keychains to baseball hats.
12:36You went from house to house.
12:38I went from office to office to office.
12:40And I still remember some of my clients who I used to.
12:45But there was a time when I thought, I sat down with my wife and we discussed what next.
12:52She was pregnant with our son.
12:54My daughter was four.
12:56She's now 43.
12:58She's my age.
12:59Yes.
13:00And I told her, I said, shall we take the next plane back home?
13:05And she says, back home to what?
13:07We burnt all our bridges back home.
13:09What do you mean, burnt all your bridges?
13:10Well, Manjusha, I come from a big construction business back home in India.
13:16Unfortunately, my father passed away when I was still in final year of college.
13:21I see.
13:21And what he had built, things didn't work out.
13:25And we were literally back to square one.
13:28Okay.
13:28So you were born into wealth perhaps.
13:31And then it was ground zero.
13:33I would say that yes.
13:36You lost everything.
13:37We lost everything over there.
13:38Okay.
13:39And you had to start afresh.
13:40Absolutely.
13:41It was ground zero.
13:42It was like WTC.
13:42When you were born into privilege and then being penniless, it looks great in movies.
13:47But in real life, oh my God, you experienced the good things in life.
13:51I mean, imagine Manjusha in the 70s to be driven to college and school by a chauffeur in a car.
13:57I mean, that was, you know.
13:58Privilege.
13:58It was a privilege in those days.
14:00So yes, to answer your question, they were good times.
14:04But then we had to start from ground zero all over again.
14:07But what makes me proud again today is that I am self-made.
14:13I have, you know, the children were, my daughter was four when we landed in Dubai.
14:19And my son was born over here in 1991.
14:22By the grace of God and by the grace of Dubai, they're both doing very well over here.
14:27My daughter and my son-in-law run their own business.
14:29Lovely.
14:30My son, who is now the proud father of a six-month-old baby girl,
14:35he works with a financial services company.
14:39So Dubai has helped you, like, as well.
14:41Of course it has.
14:42I shall always...
14:42So you are, Dubai is your base even now, you are 64 now.
14:46Absolutely.
14:46This is home for me, Manjusha.
14:49This is where I want to be.
14:51This is the, Dubai is the city of dreams.
14:56As cliched as it may sound, this is the city of dreams.
15:01All you need to do is grab the opportunity.
15:03Last question, 64 years, we are going to get you into this debate about coldplay.
15:09You know what is being coldplayed?
15:11Being caught in public with your office squeeze.
15:16Yes, and I asked my daughter in the Manjusha, I said, what harm has that man done?
15:20Why has he been fired or why has he resigned here?
15:22What the hell?
15:23He was at a concert.
15:23Are you condoning infidelity, sir?
15:25I'm not condoning infidelity.
15:27All I'm saying is that he's been unjustly treated.
15:30He was just having fun at a concert.
15:32So what?
15:35He was with his HR lady.
15:37So what?
15:38The power dynamics don't happen.
15:40So what?
15:40You sound very un-woke.
15:42Living in a woke era, sir.
15:44I mean, frankly, I still can't get over the fuss which, you know, it's all...
15:48Is it your 60 years, you're not taking anything seriously?
15:51You're like, just let live.
15:52I don't.
15:53I don't.
15:54Don't take life so seriously.
15:54I just enjoy myself, Manjusha.
15:57If my wife glares at me...
15:57You need to go back home to your...
15:59Your wife is listening right now.
16:00You're condoning Andy Byron.
16:02Saying, it's okay.
16:03The guy was having a bit of fun along with the woman.
16:05It's all consensual.
16:07I said this to my daughter-in-law, Manjusha.
16:09What did you say?
16:10I'm so worried.
16:12I said, look, what's all this facade about?
16:13She said, that for God's sake.
16:14She was the CEO and she was head of HR.
16:16Exactly.
16:17Because my daughter is an HR specialist.
16:19She's a HR specialist.
16:20Now she knows the ramifications.
16:21And I said, so.
16:23I said, so.
16:24She said, what do you mean, so?
16:25You think it's all...
16:27It's power dynamics.
16:27And she asked me precisely what you asked me.
16:29Yes.
16:29Are you condoning infidelity?
16:31Yes.
16:31I said, I'm not.
16:32I'm not saying the man just was having fun at a concert and so what then.
16:37Okay.
16:37He's got a very unconventional take on cold playing it.
16:41I am an...
16:41I'm sure Andy Byron would actually send you a special thank you note.
16:44I am an unconventional 66-year-old, Manjusha.
16:47Don't forget that.
16:48On that great note, I hope you never change.
16:51And I hope your success story and your unconventional take on cold play remain so sassy forever.
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