Rajkumar Rao as an actor is known to walk the unbeaten track and he has his hands full with unconventional roles which he boasts of.
For Rajkumar Rao, 2017 could very well prove to be his moment of reckoning with his hands filled with interesting offers and projects.
In an industry that is fast transforming itself into one where filmmakers are making sharp choices and taking note of serious storylines, Rao holds his own.
From Vikas Bahl’s Queen to now portraying Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose he has been much more than the conventional Bollywood Hero.
Over seven years and 20-odd films, the 32-year-old has an image of an empathetic but not very sentimental interpreter of lives.
An FTII alumni himself, he is known for his offbeat roles in Shahid (2013) , Trapped (2017), Kai Po Che! (2013) and Newton (2017).
All of which show his ability to make small choices and then make it large. 2017 has been busy for Rao. His latest release happens to be Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Bareilly Ki Barfi where he stars with Ayushmann Khurrana and Kriti Sanon. Ajay Pannalal’s comedy, Behen Hogi Teri too released this year.
Newton, a modern take on elections in a Maoist-controlled area of Chhattisgarh will open in September in India.
Hansal Mehta’s Omerta where he protrays Omar Saeed Sheikh, the terrorist accused of murdering scribe Daniel Pearl in 2002 premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
And there’s Bose: Dead/Alive, a web series premiering later this year.
Mind you none are big commercial films.
Rajkumar tried to take some parts of SRK and Aamir as lessons but his real inspiration was another stalwart in the trade Manoj Bajpayee.
His dream run with Bajpayee came alive with movies like Chittagong and Aligarh where he shared screenspace with him.
His rendezvous with acting started with theatre when he joined the Shri Ram Centre repertory in Delhi.
With long travelling time spent on bus, he read plays in English and Hindi . Theatre coupled with reading led to his final calling for becoming an actor.
FTII only helped him take to serious method acting and then is when offers came.
He won accolades in films like Dibakar Banerjee’s LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (2010) and Pawan Kripalani’s Ragini MMS (2011)as well.
Working with Anurag Kashyap, Ekta Kapoor led to more offers coming his way.
In a span of the next two years he appeared in small yet effective parts in Shaitan, Chittagong, Gangs Of Wasseypur II and Talaash.
If analysts quoted quite often are to be understood so far Rao has stayed away from the path traversed by likes of Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub.
He has avoided playing the hero’s best friend or eccentric villain in major studio films.
Having grown up in Gurugram with two older siblings and three cousins, the middle-class characters always had a lot of appeal for him. Son to a keeper of land records, and a homemaker, It was a family of movie enthusiasts.
Rao is the recipient of a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award from three nominations.
Rao achieved success for his breakout role in 2013 with the drama film Kai Po Che!, for which he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award at Filmfare. Rao was awarded the Filmfare and the National Film Award for Best Actor and Critics Best Actor for portrayal of Shahid Azmi.
With acting a much sought after profession in the country, Rao teaches youngsters to take calculated risks to strive for the larger pie in Bollywood.
Comments