Rajkummar Rao made his debut with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex Aur Dhokha in 2010, and now his career boasts of a 100 % box-office success rate. Whether as a young Gujarati in Kai Po Che or his downright offensive, characters in Ragini MMS and Queen, or a vulnerable human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi in Shahid, or a migrant in City Lights and recently in a completely different avatar in Barelliey Ki Barfi, Rajkummar has proved he’s a performer par excellence. He is one of the most promising talents in the country today. In an exclusive conversation with HFT, Rajkumar talks about Newton, about being an unconventional yet exceptional actor and more
Similarities between Rajkummar and Newton
His upcoming film, Newton is a dark comedy, where he plays a character named Nutan aka Newton. The film talks about important issues like the voting process in a democracy, child marriage, caste system etc. Rajkummar says that Newton is idealistic in nature so he could relate to him in that way as he is also idealistic when it comes to working and acting. Newton is honest and sincere when it comes to working and that’s the way I am. I don’t want to corrupt myself when it comes to acting. I don’t want to follow a herd mentality. I want to make my own path and stick to it throughout my career,” says Rajkummar. Newton is somebody who is trying to stand alone in this chaotic world, standing against the system and that’s what attracted Rajkumar to do the film.
Preparing for Newton
For Rajkummar, the director’s ideology was his main concern, he wanted to know how the director sees this character. They also had discussions on the physical look of the character, like the curly hair, blink in his eyes to add to the nuance of the character. Rajkummar tells us that while they didn’t have any workshops he sat with the director to understand his vision. “My process as an actor is very organic, once I understand my character and I am done with preparations, I only react on set, I don’t plan how I will perform in a given scene, if I know the character in and out, I can perform in any situation,” he adds.
His most challenging roles
“Before I start any new films I am always nervous and scared. For example, before starting shoot for Bose, I was petrified about how will I portray somebody like Subash Chandra Bose. I had to work really hard for that. Some characters are very challenging,” says Rajkummar. He feels that for him as an actor, it’s the emotions and the internal process that matters the most, more than the physical transformation. “So many roles have left me emotionally drained like my character in Omerta, it was very disturbing,” he adds. So how does he get out of these characters? I ask “To get out of the character, I travel. I finish my film and I get out of the city or county for about 10 days, take it out of my system and start preparing for my next film,” he answers. The character he played in City Lights has been the most satisfying one for him, he says.
Homework for the films
The amount of homework depends on the characters, he says. He had to do a lot of homework for Bose. He also wants his character to look human, sound human and be relatable. “I don’t believe in the hero theory, an actor is supposed to become a character on screen, not show 6 packs every time on screen. This is something I believe in and always applied in my life, if it requires for me to look ugly on screen for my character. I am impulsive as an actor,” he states.
Films with mass connect vs. films for niche audience
He is an actor, so he’s open to doing films that he can relate to whether niche or otherwise. The recent success of Bareilly Ki Barfi is proof that he can carry off any kind of roles. Rajkummar admits that even though he worked harder for his character in Trapped, people are more likely to remember his character in Bareilly Ki Barfi. “Films with a mass connect are remembered longer. Also, it was a film set in a small town and 80% of our country lives in the small towns, the script and dialogues were something the audience connected with, so the film did well,” informs Rajkummar. He feels that’s the fun and beauty of being an actor, you never know which film will click.
What drives him to do films
He says, “I am not concerned about box office numbers, yes being appreciated for what I do is a great motivation, but having said that, I do want my producers to make money or break even so that they can make many more films like Shahid and Trapped etc.” He says that he is happy that the industry is respecting content now and making it a success.
“What drives me the most to do films is the character, my characters they drive me the most. Being in front of the camera and getting involved in the scene sometimes you find magic moments in front of the camera and that is what drives me the most.”
Here’s to never-ending magic moments for you! Team HFT wishes Newton all the best.
