His latest Bollywood outing, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (KKBKKJ), may not have fared well at the box office, but for Raghav Juyal, the film has been a stroke of luck. The actor admits that his market value has boosted ever since he featured in the Salman Khan-starrer. With three big releases lined up, including films with producer Guneet Monga Kapoor and filmmaker Karan Johar, the dancer-turned-actor is liking how his career trajectory seems to be coming along.

Juyal played Khan’s brother in KKBKKJ and he admits that it was a great deal for him. “I am not in the league to worry about crores. For me, doing a 100-crore movie is enough. I don’t know what Salman Khan thinks about it. But for me, it has been good. You are as good as your last release. Jo bhi tha, mere liye bahut achha tha. Rates badh gaye mere,” Juyal shares.

The actor recalls pushing his limits for the film. “I worked double shifts for the movie. I would sleep in the vanity van and I even shot when I had dengue,” he recalls. While he is back to auditioning for other projects, he mentions how KKBKKJ was the only film for which he didn’t audition. “Bhai (Khan) called me,” he states.

Many actors find auditions intimidating, especially the criticism from casting directors that comes along. But Juyal looks at it differently. Recalling the time when he started auditioning for films while he was having a great ride on TV, he says, “Wohi (criticism) toh chahiye tha… I had a ghar, a car and everything was fine. I was getting crores on TV. But I like it when people point out my flaws. I’ve been rejected in auditions. When I started acting, main Sanjay Mishra (actor) ke ghar par pocha lagane ke liye bhi tayyar tha, as my motive was to learn.”

Juyal came to Mumbai in 2011 for a dance reality show and he’s amazed with how things turned around for him, professionally. “Main dancer banne aaya tha. Yeh sab kuch (career as an actor) bonus chal raha hai,” he quips. Back in the day, the 31-year-old worked at a dance studio. “I would stay back in the studio at times. It was jannat for me, as I got to practise all night and there was no rok-tok. There were struggles, but I never romanticised them. Ek vada pav mein pura din chalta tha. Back then, I used to live with 25 guys in a room. But I never looked at it as a bad phase. It was fun,” he reminisces.