Becoming Actor was the End Statement: RajKummar Rao

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Rajkummar Rao was never the conventional Hindi movie hero material, but,  has now made a distinct identity with his stellar performances.

Along with winning audience appreciation, he has also pleased critics, won a National Award, and his overall box office record is decent.

His latest film, Bareilly Ki Barfi, has been doing well, and (as usual) a major part of it is the courtesy of Rajkummar’s acting skills.

But in spite of being blessed such immense front door talent, his pathway to the center-stage was not so open once.

He hailed from a basic Yadhav family at Gurgaon. Like many others, he always aspired to become a Bolkywood hero from childhood. So, he did his graduation from FTII.

After stepping into the real industry, Rao spent the next few years visiting studios and meeting casting directors. But, things didn’t turn as easy.

He had to face numerous rejections and delays before he landed on his first mainstream break.

As Rao remarks:

Four or five years ago… I still REMEMBER a couple of incidents where people told me, ‘Sorry aapko hum lead me toh cast nahi kar sakte, par kuch aur mein try kar lenge.

(We cannot cast you as the lead but will try to… for some other role may be.)

-Raj Kumar Rao, in his interview to Hindustan Times.

The reasons given to his rejections were mostly because of his face-value, appearance and build.

I didn’t look like a hero. I didn’t have the fan base. I didn’t have six packs. I was the least a Bollywood hero can be without acting skills.

In spite of these rejections, RajKummar remained patient and continued trying his luck at middle-level assignments until Love, Sex aur Dhoka happened.

Later, he got his big break at Kai Po Che, which was a film adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s best selling novel Three Mistakes of My Life.

After that, in these seven years, Rao has appeared in numerous mainstream movies, like, Shahid, Aligarh, Behen hogi teri and now Bareilly ki Barfi.

Shahid was a remarkable milestone in Rao’s career. For his exceptional portrayal of Shahid Azmi in the movie, a late human rights activist and lawyer, Rao was given the National Award for best actor (male).

Due to his sheer talent and strong willpower to strive, he today is an established Bollywood actor who is known for his quality contribution to Indian Cinema and his Twitter account has 102,000 followers.

WHAT KEPT ME GOING IS THAT I DID NOT WANT TO LOSE. WHAT IF I DIdN’T LOOK LIKE A HUNKY HERO, I KNEW HOW TO ACT. I HAD THAT confidence. I HAVE TO BECOME AN ACTOR. AND THAT WAS MY END STATEMENT.

-Raj Kummar Rao

Presently, Rao is gearing up for his titular role of Subhash Chandra Bose in the ALT Balaji’s original web series Bose: Dead or Alive?