Heroine, starring Kareena Kapoor, in which he played cricketer Angad Paul. Before the start of principal photography, Arunoday Singh was chosen for the role but was dropped for unknown reasons. Media reports began speculating about several actors (such as Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan and Prateik Babbar), although Bhandarkar later confirmed that he selected Hooda after seeing his performance in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011). The film received mixed to negative reviews, but Hooda's performance was appreciated by the critics. Kanika Sikka of Daily News and Analysis wrote, "Randeep, as usual does justice to his role." The film was fared poorly at the domestic and international box office. In 2013, Hooda starred opposite Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren in Vishesh Bhatt's Murder 3, an official remake of the 2011 Colombian thriller The Hidden Face. The film and his portrayal of Vikram (a fashion and wildlife photographer) garnered mixed to negative feedback from critics. A review from Mint said that Hooda "is hundreds of shades below his ability to enact a character." The film earned a worldwide gross of in ten days and was an average grosser. Later that year, Hooda acted in Ketan Mehta's biographical period film Rang Rasiya, based on the life of the 19th-century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma. Hooda also featured in the thriller John Day, alongside Naseeruddin Shah. He also appeared alongside Rani Mukerji and Saqib Saleem in a segment directed by Karan Johar for the anthology film Bombay Talkies. The film was made as a celebration of the 100th year of Indian cinema and was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, Hooda appeared opposite Alia Bhatt in Imtiaz Ali's Highway. To get used to his character, who had a distant relationship with Bhatt's character, he avoided speaking to her for about 25 days. Parmita Uniyal for Hindustan Times praising Hooda's "nuanced yet controlled" performance wrote that he lent, "authenticity to his character". He then starred in Sajid Nadiadwala's action film Kick, co-starring Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez. The film emerged as one of Bollywood's biggest blockbusters of 2014, with the total revenue of . Hooda's last release for the year was the Emraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut starrer Ungli. The film focused on both a commercial failure and was panned by critics. Emphasizing on the fim's potential Mid-Day critic Shubha Shetty Saha said the film would have been "wonderful" had it not