Rahul Dev completes 20 years as an actor; adds cinema is organic and realistic today
Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 6, 2020)

A model-turned-actor, who starred in numerous films including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, Rahul Dev completes 20 years in cinema this year. He is glad to see the growth in entertainment, and that many directors from regional languages are getting their due in Hindi cinema, too. “I have worked with SS Rajamouli, Prabhudheva, Prabhas and many others much before they were known pan-India. I started doing regional films as the creativity there was outstanding,” he says. Rahul has also done films in Oriya, Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and Marathi.

Talking about Hindi cinema around the start of his career, Rahul shares that if you played a certain role, you were stereotyped. “It was a bit regressive. Today, the lead actors in movies are regular faces, like we have Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao. Unlike Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, who have a larger than life image. Today, the heroes in cinema are more approachable as the stories have changed. They are more organic and realistic. The digital platform has realistic roles and shows, and actors are enjoying playing them,” says the Dishoom (2016) actor.

Now, he is looking forward to the upcoming digital film on a prison break which is inspired by real events. He says, “I took on the part as the role was based on a real person and the story had something about it that interested me. It is not the usual fictional character that we have seen in the past.”

Rahul is glad many real life stories including biopics are being made in India — either as films or on the web. “I have seen two wars as a kid, and back then, it meant a break from school. Being a cop’s son, we knew the drill and would switch off the lights when the siren went off. Today’s generation is quite aware about what is happening around the world due to the internet. The young generation needs to hear stories about our nation’s past,” he opines.

Another reason why he took on the digital film, Rahul says, was for its association with the ’84 riots. Talking about his memories about that time, Rahul says, “I remember I was in the sixth standard and one of my friends, a Sikh, wanted to cut his hair and I watched how painful it was for his family. My other friend’s father’s shoe shops were burned down and I remember him telling us about it in school. So, when this film came to me with the riots as the background, I knew I had to do this.”