Be it his “serious” parts in films such as Shahid (2013) and Newton (2017) or lighter outings in hits such as Kai Po Che! (2013), Bareilly Ki Barfi (BKB; 2017) and Stree (2018), actor Rajkummar Rao has successfully straddled all kinds of roles through his decade-long Bollywood journey. But Rao admits that he was considered a “serious and dramatic” actor till BKB came along.

“People love to put actors in boxes, and are like, ‘If they have done a particular kind of work, then let’s give them more such parts’. Until BKB released, people would see me as a ‘serious, dramatic actor’. But I, as an artiste, never thought, ‘Oh, I am going to do something very different’. I knew that it was a great role for any actor — to portray a dual personality in a beautiful script,” says Rao, whose character Pritam Vidrohi and his humorous undertones became a major talking point for the film.

The actor says it “never occurred” to him that he was “dabbling in comedy space” with the Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari directorial. “But the end result was amazing. The kind of response I got from people was overwhelming, and I really enjoyed that space. Films such as Newton, Trapped (2017) and Shahid take a toll on you, as a person as well as an artiste, but when you have a fun part in a film like BKB, you enjoy those great moments... Comedy-laden parts are all about having fun with your lines on the sets. You have to let it flow, and enjoy,” says the 36-year-old actor.

Like trade pundits, Rao also feels that BKB gave a new twist to his career path. “In a way, some kind of a shift happened in my career with BKB. Then, Stree (2018) came along and lot of things changed... I have constantly learned and grown. As an actor, that’s exactly what you want to do — play completely diverse parts in all your movies,” he says.