He’s had a successful year and his slate of films from next year looks choc-a-bloc, too. Rajkummar Rao believes that content has finally emerged as king in Hindi cinema. He says, “I have always believed in content-driven movies, right from my first film. It’s heartening to see that audiences are welcoming films driven by good stories. They are also open to actors playing characters on screen more than just playing heroes. Finally, content is getting its due.” Ask him what seems to have brought about this change and he adds, “Today, audiences have access to all kinds of films from all over the world. They are exposed to international standards of filmmaking. That’s why they expect the same quality from Hindi cinema as well. They look forward to something new and different and when that’s offered to them, they welcome it with open arms.”
He’s going to share screen space with Sonam Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Mouni Roy and Nushrat Bharucha in his upcoming films and talking about his leading ladies, he says, “Today, scripts have scope for both the leading man and woman to perform as parallel leads. The leading ladies are charting their own path and rewriting the rules. More power to them. You can no longer say that the film industry is dominated by just the male stars.” He also adds that the film industry’s perception towards him has changed for the better and that has resulted in more opportunities for him. A notion quite common within the film industry suggests that actors should be concerned about the producers, too. But Rajkummar offers a contrasting view and says, “I work for the team and I don’t have an identity that’s different from that of the crew that works on the film. I am a producer’s actor, a director’s actor, the cinematographer’s actor, as well as, an artiste who wants to be a co-star’s actor as well.”
For now, Rajkummar is firmly focussed on his upcoming holiday. “I’ll be in London for ten days and this is a much-needed break,” he signs off.
