Madhureeta Mukherjee (BOMBAY TIMES; February 27, 2018)

 He is not the dreamy-eyed ‘Raj’ of Hindi cinema, who promises fantasy-filled romances in the Alps and on sun-kissed beaches. He’s the Raj who is closer to home; one you won’t find in dream sequences, but in reality. Yes, reality that is inescapable and unforgettable, just like his performances. The intensity of his acts can fire up the screen, and irrespective of the part he plays, he leads the show. And the year 2017 was his show all the way. He was the toast of the town, winning awards for all his performances, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Bareilly Ki Barfi. In a heart-to-heart chat with Bombay Times, he tells us his gripping story, which is marked by trials, triumphs, scars and sweet success. Read on...

From films like Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Kai Po Che and Queen to Aligarh, Bareilly Ki Barfi and Newton, your journey has been fascinating, even a revelation. There has been a huge change in the way filmmakers perceive you today. Has there been a shift in the way you see your place in the industry?
While growing up in Gurgaon (now known as Gurugram), for me, the industry was a different planet that was orbiting around us. I always wanted to do movies, but it was such a faraway dream that I didn’t know if I could ever achieve it. I was madly in love with cinema and actors. Now, I am a part of it and some of the actors are my colleagues, but I continue to remain a fan of some of them. From the outside, the industry looks glamorous and rich and people think that actors live fancy, dream lives. It’s not like that; it is a lot of hard work.

You have seen your share of struggles, moving from Gurugram to Mumbai, without friends and family in showbiz. A city like Mumbai can be hard on you, but then it is accepting too, right?
Mumbai is home to me now and with the kind of freedom and independence that I enjoy here, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. When I first moved here, I was shocked by how expensive the city is. With the rent that I was paying for a small flat, I could afford a bungalow in Gurugram. And of course, there is chaos and traffic, but I wouldn’t give up Mumbai for anything. I came here when I was 16, to audition for a dance show for two days. I was fascinated by films and Shah Rukh Khan, so I would stand outside Mannat (SRK’s bungalow) for hours and look at it with wonder. I haven’t told SRK that, but he knows about my love for him. I was a crazy fan and I still am. I adore him as a human being, too. I guess I can connect with his journey, because he came from nowhere and became one of the biggest superstars of our country.

For a middle-class boy, pursuing acting without having a plan or a back-up plan in place is quite a leap of faith. Didn’t you worry about how you would keep the kitchen fires burning?
Honestly, I have never thought that acting se mujhe ghar chalana hai. I just knew that mujhe actor banna hai. Of course, I knew that I would eventually earn money, but that’s not what motivated me. I come from a typical middle-class family, and it wasn’t like they could swing things for me. They said that they would support me as far as they could and they have always been there for me, especially my mother. She had a strong belief that I would make it. Whether it is my career or love, I am an extremist. I go all out. For me, there is no mid-way or half measure. When I don’t like someone, I don’t. I wouldn’t use the word hate, as it is a very strong word, but when I get negative vibes from a person, I tend to keep away.

Your first film Love Sex Aur Dhokha (LSD) wasn’t the usual Bollywood fare. If at all, the content was ballsy and quite a shocker. How did your family react to it?
I wasn’t there when my family was watching LSD. It was my first film, and there I was… butt naked and humping a girl. I have always lived in a joint family, so 20 of my family members watched my first film together. I had forewarned them about the naked scene. I don’t know if it’s good or bad that the Censor Board had blurred it out (laughs). I am sure that my family felt slightly awkward about it, but I don’t think that they have ever talked about the scene with each other. They were just so thrilled that their son has done something that he wanted to do all his life.

You have spoken about rejections in the past; is there still a fear lurking inside you — what if it happens again? And every time you were rejected, what did you tell yourself?
If I have to face rejection again, I am ready for it. Even if I don’t have work for the next two years, I know that I have enough to sustain myself. But like I said, for me, acting was never about the money. If I am not working in films, I will do something in a similar zone — like short films, or theatre... as long as I don’t stop acting. In the beginning of my career, I have faced rejection and I have heard strange excuses from people. I’ve been told that I am not muscular, not fair enough and that my eyebrows look different in close-ups. That was the most bizarre thing that I have ever heard. I have read a lot of biographies of personalities like Mr Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan and I know that most of them have faced rejection. I always knew that no one would be waiting for me in the industry with open arms, saying, ‘Raj, we were waiting to cast you in our film’. I was sure I had to struggle for work, but irrespective of whether it would take two or 10 years, I had made up my mind that I won’t leave Mumbai.

When the same people approach you now, how do you react? Is there a sense of victory?
I won’t say that there is a sense of victory, but if they approach me, with due respect, I will politely tell them that I won’t be able to do it. It is not because I have a personal problem with them, but I have a problem with their mindset. They couldn’t see any potential in me back then, but there were others who took a leap of faith and I will always respect them.

Are you now getting attached to fame and your newfound stardom? Has it changed you at all?
I am still the same guy that I used to be, and I am fully aware that stardom can fade away any time. We have often seen stars suddenly losing their stardom. I don’t have love for fame, selfies or money. I feel happy when someone sees me and wants to click a picture, but when someone messages me and tells me that they could connect with my character, it’s a different high. When I go abroad and people come up to me and thank me for doing the kind of films that I am doing, it’s a great feeling. To me, stardom means that I get to do the work that I believe in and I have the power to choose the films that I want to do. Stardom is having the power to say ‘Yes’ when you want to say ‘Yes’, and ‘No’ when you want to say ‘No’.

Today, the audience doesn’t care about who is the lead, supporting actor or villain. They like the actors, or they don’t; they like the film, or they don’t. Does it make it easier for actors like you, who can slip into the lead, supporting role or any other character role without thinking what it would do to your image or star power?
For me, a movie is about the whole experience, not just one actor or one role. There are some actors like Aamir Khan, whose film I can go to with a sense of surety that I will enjoy the whole film. He has achieved that kind of confidence from people, wherein they believe that if it is an Aamir Khan film, it will be worth their time. Someday, I would love to be in that space, where people say that it is a Rajkummar Rao film, so it’ll be worth our time. My first two films were as leads and both did very well, and then I did small parts in films like Shaitan, Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 and Talaash: The Answer Lies Within. Then somewhere, I thought that I didn’t want to keep doing small parts. We are all hungry actors and we all want to be on screen for longer. Luckily, during Gangs Of Wasseypur, I met Hansal (Mehta) sir, and my journey with the film Shahid started. It was my first big lead role, so in a way, that was a turning point for me. Hansal sir had met a lot of big actors and he was desperate to make the film. He could see that hunger in my eyes and I guess that convinced him to cast me.

Are you very critical about your work?
Yes. I wasn’t happy with my performances in Dolly Ki Doli and Hamari Adhuri Kahaani. I didn’t like myself in those films. Whenever I talk or think about it, I feel that I should have worked harder on it. It’s like a scar and I feel horrible about it. Well, with acting, you can’t change it once you are out there on the screen, that’s the problem. At that point, I wanted to sit back and rethink what I was doing. After that, Aligarh happened and I started shooting for Trapped, Newton and Omerta, so I moved on.

You are working in a horror comedy with Shraddha Kapoor. This genre has not been explored much in Bollywood. There are ample genres we can still dabble in, like we see in Hollywood, but here, we generally play it safe. It is changing, but we need to do much more beyond love stories and romcoms. Your views?
Now is the time to experiment and it is great to see that people are backing such stories. We can’t just play around with conventional ideas and say, ‘This is what sells, so let’s keep making it’. I would request everyone to experiment with their stories, writing and acting. It’s so exciting to witness this phase, not just as an actor, but as a movie lover. I think we can also make good sex comedies, but we are not doing that. I guess, somewhere, we are scared of the Censor Board, and people’s reaction to such subjects. I think sex comedies can be mature and intelligently made; Delhi Belly is one such example.

On a lighter note, Patralekhaa and you have been frank about your relationship. Any plans of settling down?
It will happen eventually, but we haven’t fixed a date. We are not getting married anytime soon. Right now, we are focusing on our careers.

Do you believe in marriage?
That is a tough one to answer. More than marriage, I think a relationship is about two people being genuinely happy and comfortable with each other. It’s a great institution, and I am sure it works for many people. Patralekhaa and I have been together for more than six years now, and we are very happy with each other. Even if we get married, we will be happy. I know so many people who are not married, but they are living together and they are happy. So, it’s not like both of us don’t think about marriage, but we don’t stress about it. I know that eventually it will happen as our families would want us to get married, though they have never pressurised us.