2025 has turned out to be an eventful year for Hasleen Kaur. Her international film, Ruthless Bastards, was released recently digitally in international markets and has received a very positive response. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, the talented and beautiful actress spoke about Ruthless Bastards, difference between work cultures in the Indian and Hollywood film industry, and a lot more.
EXCLUSIVE: Ruthless Bastards actress Hasleen Kaur spills Hollywood set rules: meal penalties, 1.5x overtime; BACKS Deepika Padukone’s 8-hour shift demand: “India needs tighter set discipline”
Please tell us about Ruthless Bastards and the feedback you have received for your performance…
The film stars two veteran Hollywood actors, Casper Van Dien and Sean Patrick Flanery. As we all know, Casper worked in Starship Troopers (1997) and was the quintessential action hero at that time. As kids, we had seen it and hence, when I got a chance to do an action scene with him, I was excited. I told him that my brother and I watched his film repeatedly. Most of us millennial kids, while growing up, had this habit – once we get the film that we love, we keep watching it on loop. The presence of these two actors elevated the entire film and everyone has really enjoyed their presence and their banter.
The film talks about the dirty underbelly of the gangs that operate in North America – the Chinese gang, the Russian gang and the Indian gang; the latter is very much gaining more and more popularity with time. I am a part of the Indian gang. The film is directed by Bruce Fontaine, who has worked with Jackie Chan in numerous films. His work has been really appreciated.
We were not expecting Apple TV and Prime Video to pick this up, but they did. The feedback has been good and my role of Ishanna Sidhu has really been appreciated. Everyone has really enjoyed it. People have been asking if there would be Ruthless Bastards 2 and whether there would be another extension of it, where they’ll get to see more girls doing action! The director has sort of pondered over the idea of Ruthless Vixens. He’s made a draft poster where he wants just the female assassins to take centrestage (smiles). He wants to have a complete full-throttle action film on the lines of a John Wick – where the story is paramount, but more than that, the action is the main selling point.
When can we watch in Ruthless Bastards in India?
They are trying to figure out a way to come on one of the platforms in India. I guess the idea was to release it in the US and some countries in Europe and get good feedback so that it gives them a lot more motivation to drop the film in India, China etc.
How different was it for you to work in an international production and what difference did you notice? I guess the biggest difference must be that everything happens on time…
Yes, everything is very, very much on time (smiles). I remember I was a few minutes late on a particular day. One of my producers, Alex Bogomolov, told me, ‘When you come late, it throws everyone off track’. This is because everything is planned minute-to-minute. As soon as the actor walks on to set, you are scheduled for your costume trial. During the trial, the costume department might realize that they might want to do a few last-minute changes to my outfit. While they are doing so, I’ll rush for my hair and make-up.
Every hour is divided into six-minute slots. So, hair and make-up will take about 3 to 4 slots of those 6 minutes. A costume trial uses up to 2 to 3 slots. In short, either in 12 minutes or 18 minutes, I should ideally be done with both. The direction and production work on such a detailed breakdown so that everything works with clockwork precision and nobody runs astray with any free time. They also calculate how much time I’ll take from my vanity van to the set.
Moreover, if they say it’s an eight-hour shift, it means it’ll be an eight-hour shift for sure (laughs). However, things might go beyond control and shoots may take longer than anticipated. That’s the nature of working in cinema. However, every extra hour that you work, they give you 1.5x of your pro rata.
That’s not all. Suppose if my lunch time is between 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm and if I am unable to have my meal because I was busy with shooting, then I’ll be paid a meal penalty. These are union roles which are strongly enforced for many years. Under this system, everyone is accountable, from the producers to the actors. Everyone ensures that they don’t delay the proceedings.
For my scene with Casper, he was there before me. He was already on his mark and ready to roll with the action scene. He had previously rehearsed as well. So, if the DOP, lighting etc, is set, the actor is also set.
The eight-hour shift discussion instantly reminds one of Deepika Padukone’s demand for the same. Do you think such a role should be implemented in the Indian film industry as well?
I think so. I think we all need to respect each other’s time. I agree that we are making larger-than-life projects which are time-bound. But let’s be honest, there’s a lot of time waste that happens on the sets. So, if we are able to efficiently manage ourselves and cut out all those time waste areas, we should be able to finish the work of the day earlier than expected instead of working for 12 or 14 hours.
In India, the technicians are booked for 12 hours. The moment you go beyond that, their shift becomes that of 1 ½ day and they charge accordingly. This extra fee should be applicable to everyone working on the set. So, when the accountability increases and if the producers understand that the money is going from their pocket, then they will start adhering to tighter timelines.
Also, we should have a work-life balance. At the end of a long day, we all want to go back home, get some rest, unwind and get back to work with a fresh state of mind.
I heard that you also run a marketing agency. What made you enter into that field?
Thank you for asking me about it! My company is called Creative Cultr. I started it in November 2017. I established a company and got into the field of digital marketing and advertising in 2012, a year after winning Miss India. Creative Cultr is my second company, under which we do ad campaigns, marketing campaigns, brand identities, create websites, manage social media, influencer outreach programmes etc.
I also service a lot of brands like CNN IBN, Network18 etc. We also work with Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality, which runs the Social restaurant across the country. When Odeon Social opened up in Connaught Place, New Delhi, we handled the launch. We also help FMCG companies create their brand identities from scratch like what their campaign would look like, executing their campaigns and then running ads and analytics on those campaigns as well. We have worked on chocolate brands, cheese brands, jewellery brands etc.
I have studied advertising and public relations. I always wanted to do something side-by-side. Unfortunately, a lot of people assume that I started this company to create an economy for myself because, as actors, we are unemployed most of the time. It was not to fill the void or to fill the free time. I am passionate about it as strongly as I am about acting. I strongly believe that one can easily have two separate businesses running simultaneously. A lot of businessmen do that. Acting gave me the freedom and the time to start my own company.
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