Actors Manoj Bajpai and Vivek Oberoi were groomed, marketed and then shown the door by their mentor Ram Gopal Varma, and now it's the turn of Randeep Hooda.

The "D" actor, whom Ramu had been raving about until lately, has been eliminated from the filmmaker's repertory. Randeep will no more be part of any Varma project.

The tension between the mentor and his discovery had been brewing for some time. It came to a flashpoint earlier this month during the shooting of a segment of Varma's "Darnaa Zaroori Hai" which "Satya" leading man Chakravarthy directed with Randeep in the lead.

There were constant arguments on the set, which Varma didn't quite relish.

He decided to terminate all professional relations with Randeep, including the film "Shock" which Jijy ("My Wife's Murder") Philips was supposed to direct in November.

Varma said: "It's true that Randeep is no longer doing 'Shock' or any other film for me. The segment of 'Darnaa Zaroori Hai' will be Randeep's last stint with my company.

"I wouldn't like to go into details about our differences. But, yes, I'd like to say Randeep and I could no longer see eye to eye. I wish him all the best."

Randeep, who's in New York shooting for Manish Gupta's "Karma Confessions and Holy" isn't really shocked.

"Has Ramu really come out in the open with this? Yes, it's true I'm not doing 'Shock'. I had set aside so many assignments including Shyam Benegal's 'Carmen' (Chamki) to give dates for 'Shock'.

"Anyway, I'll never have anything but the highest regard for Ramu," said Randeep.

Randeep will now star in "D" director Vishram Sawant's next film entitled "Risk".

"It's to be produced by Vishram's own company called Risk. It's a dark thriller like 'D'. But I'm moving to the other side of the law for this one - I get into a khaki uniform in 'Risk'."