“I am the same person who came to this city Mumbai a few years ago to act in Hindi films, and I am just continuing doing that. I did not change as a person. All that happens is people change around me.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“We have to address the safety of women, and that is of utmost importance right now. I would love to work only with people with ethics and the right moral conduct.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Whatever I am today is mostly because of my training at FTII. It taught me to be disciplined as an actor. People accuse us of being lazy and presume that we smoke up and laze about in the campus, which is not true at all. FTII courses are hard work.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I don’t know how my body would react if I don’t eat for 10 days. In order to go through that experience, I almost did not eat or drink water for 15-20 days. I only had one carrot a day, a cup of black coffee, and a few sips of water.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I try to bring all my sincerity to the character I play. That way, I am dedicated.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“If someone comes to me with a script and says, ‘Sir, this hero…’ I’m like, ‘Is there a name, or he is just called a hero?’ We are not heroes. Heroes are people fighting for us at the border. We are not heroes; we are just doing our job.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“People will invest in you only if they see some kind of return, and that’s the dark truth.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I think God made this very path for me, and he guided me all throughout. And my family has always been very supportive. It’s not like one day I sat across the dinner table and told them I want to be an actor. It didn’t happen like that.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“A film like ‘Kai Po Che!’, ‘Queen’, ‘Behen Hogi Teri’ and ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ are not really independent films.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I want to keep running. I don’t ever want this journey to finish. And for that to happen, you can’t put too much of your brain in doing things and can’t connect too many dots because, anyway, there is no guarantee of anything.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“’Newton’ has given a lot to our cinema.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“There are a lot of things people are calling me, and I’m overwhelmed. I have a lot of gratitude, but I just want to keep doing what I’m in love with, which is acting.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I chased my dream, worked hard for it, and now I am actually living that dream. This doesn’t happen to everyone.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I have always taken risks. I like doing films which are different.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I have to finish ‘Behen Hogi Terim’ and then get right into that zone to seriously start preparing for it. It is a huge responsibility to play Netaji.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Good actors have always supported each other’s performances in a film, and the same happened in ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi.’ We all supported each other throughout.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I knew that I was just one of those actors who came to Mumbai to achieve their dreams. I knew that nobody would welcome me with open arms and auditions were the only way to get a chance.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I was a very outgoing guy. I loved roaming around, hanging out with friends. From class 5th, I practised and learnt martial arts for about 7-8 years and have won medals at the national level. Then I trained in dancing on stage. In class 10th, I acted in my first play, and that’s when I realised I wanted to become an actor.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I never signed ‘NH 10’ officially. I was supposed to do it. Then it got delayed. Then I moved on to other films like ‘Kai Po Che’ and ‘Shahid.’”
― Rajkummar Rao
“No, nothing much has changed in me as an actor. Since the day I started out, I always wanted to be part of good stories. The only thing that has changed is now I have options of good stories to choose from.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I want to work with Darren Aronofsky, Damien Chazelle, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and, of course, Majid Majidi.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“It’s very tough for someone who doesn’t have a filmi background to get work in Bollywood. It’s not a smooth ride unless you are really lucky. But I think one has to be prepared for that.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“When I was in Class Four, I wanted to be an astronaut. I am still fascinated with the universe. I decided I wanted to be an actor when I was in Class Eight.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“After my schooling, I started theatre. By the time I graduated, I was doing theatre 24×7. Luckily, the FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) acting course started.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I feel since people have started noticing me and enjoying my performance, and considering the kind of love I’ve got in 2017-18, many feel that I have arrived, because there’s a belief that I can probably carry a film on my shoulders now.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“The only thing that I know is that if I like a particular script, I want to be as honest to my character as possible. That’s the only thing I can control. I have made a lot of decisions on an impulse, and I am going to continue that.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I think every character is important in every film – be it small, primary, or lead – because they are adding something to the story, taking it forward.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“In ‘Stree’, I had a great time working with the whole team and Dinu, being the producer and one of the most important people. And now we are doing another film together, and I’m sure there will be a couple of more films in the future.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“We all have grown up watching Hindi romantic films, and when it comes to show love, that’s probably how we show it.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I don’t know when I’ll ever get a chance to be all alone in a film.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Though ‘Shahid’ was the only true story, what happened in ‘Trapped’ can happen to anyone. And I am sure there are people like Newton, and there are boys who are naive, sweet, and rowdy, like my part in ‘Bareilly’… The humanness is something I loved.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“People took notice of me and saw that I can carry off light-hearted roles as well. They started talking about Pritam Vidrohi, and it became a lovable character; I saw that people were clapping and whistling. It was a big high to watch this kind of reaction.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Whatever good is happening with ‘Newton’ is because of my mom’s blessings. I really believe in that.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Winning in Berlinale, in Hong Kong, and then to get such an amazing response, reviews, and now to be India’s official entry for Oscars… My mother is right up there and keeping a check on me. Her blessings are always going to be with me, I know.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“My process of choosing scripts remains the same. Of whatever I read and whatever excites me is what I will continue to take up.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I always feel secure. I can’t be a pure actor if I feel insecure. I can’t let other things take over my love for acting. For me, it’s a giving art. It is not something which I am doing for myself. I am doing it for my co-actors, unless it is something like ‘Trapped’.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Acting, for me, is giving to your co-actors.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“There are times when I do feel very nervous when I start a film. And I feel very nervous before the release. I do get stuck in some scenes, but that’s very natural and human. It happens to all the artistes in the world.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“People are falling in love with characters now, and that is why writers are creating such stories. I am really happy that such stories are getting prominence.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“It is not that I am only looking at doing biopics. But of course, as an actor, I always love portraying real-life characters because there is so much challenge involved in recreating somebody’s life.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I have picked ‘mainstream’ films only because there is a story, and there are lovely people attached to it. That’s a conscious decision always for me. What’s the point if there is no story to tell?”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I don’t think that now I am a star. I don’t get too much time to interact with people, and I am quite busy with work. I work. I come back home, and my loved ones are still the same. They will never change. And, I travel. I have not realised or internalised that life has changed.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“The process of playing a character as dark as Omar Saeed Sheikh is disturbing. So you have to mentally also be in that psyche, that state of mind. So, it was not easy. I was trying to cultivate a lot of anger and hatred in me while portraying him, because that’s what I read and heard about him.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I take my work very seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“We’re just actors, man, just part of things. We’re just doing our jobs, like everyone else does their jobs. The adulation for us is much more because we are always in the public eye. But I never became an actor because I wanted people to scream out my name.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“If you change nothing, nothing will change.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“’Newton’ is a very Indian film but resonates with people all across. And that’s the reason it got great response at the film festivals.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“’Stree’ is something fresh and new. Audiences want to see different kind of content on-screen, and ‘Stree’ is exactly that. It is a unique genre – horror-comedy – which has not been explored much in our country.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“When Raj and DK came and narrated me the script, the title was something else. But in conversation, I told them if we can name it ‘Stree’. In a way, I was the one who decided the title. I found that one word very catchy.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I was born and brought up in Gurgaon to a middle class family. My father, now retired, worked with the revenue department, and my mother is a housewife. I have two siblings who are both married and have kids. But I was always interested in doing something apart from studies.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“In Delhi, I became a serious stage actor. Then, luckily, the FTII acting course began, and I studied there, spent some time working on my craft. In 2008, I moved to Mumbai, and then in one and a half years of so-called struggle, I got my first film, ‘Love Sex aur Dhokha’ (LSD).”
― Rajkummar Rao
“When you are successful, the perception of the people around you changes. If I do a variety of work, people notice me differently, and that is what is happening. I am fortunate to get these opportunities.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“My parameter of judging a script has not changed over the years. I still go for a script where the story interests me. Yes, there are times where I might go wrong; say, out of five scripts, I might go wrong on one.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I don’t take pressure. I can’t really work under pressure. I do one film at a time, and I try to live in that character and in the moment. I am not a futuristic person who thinks what is going to happen after five years. And I don’t live in the past.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“What’s the fun in doing conventional things? I would rather be known as someone who is unconventional. I like being unconventional. I like doing things which are different. That’s what I like… It gives me a boost as an actor.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“How content-driven cinema worked so well… Yeah, the shift is definitely happening… It is such a good change, and it is the kind of change I would like to see so that we just go to watch a film and not put them into brackets – that this is an art film or commercial movie.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“A lot of preparation was needed to play the character of Omar Sheikh in Omerta. I watched a lot of documentaries and hate speeches to cultivate anger in me.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I want to go higher in my career. This is not my best. My best is yet to come.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“My biggest high is just to be in front of the camera and be on a film set.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“What I believe is to keep working. How a film performs at the box office is not in my control: what is in my control is my work, how much honesty I can bring on-screen. I am happy people love me.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“The kind of films I am doing are moderately budgeted and are with A-listers.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“People claim that no good actors came out of FTII after Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. What they don’t know is that the acting course was closed for 26 years and reopened only in 2004.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“People in the industry know that FTII students have a different and an honest approach towards work. The place gave me a voice and the ability to see things from a different perspective.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Building a character – nothing gives me more high than the process of exploring someone else’s life on screen.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I don’t know the reason why someone would not speak up about sexual harassment. I don’t know why it doesn’t happen here, but I am sure it exists not only in our industry, but every industry, it is there.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“You can put up a post on social media, and people will support you.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“We are seeing how people we have looked up to and were inspired by in our work have suddenly just gone because there are such serious allegations against them. I really don’t know why it is not happening here.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“You have to voice your opinion, especially now, since the times we are living in, it is so easy.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I think media will tell me how many films I have done in 2018, same as they did in 2017. So, let’s see how it goes, but I don’t really keep a count. I love doing interesting work.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“’Newton’ is a very Indian film. I think, after a long time, people will see an Indian film in its true form. As in the story, the character, it is set in the heartland of India, but it’s purely like how there was a time when Hrishikesh Mukherjee used to make sweet Indian films.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“It’s a one-day story of a guy called Newton Kumar, and the backdrop is election: how the most powerful tool we have as citizens is vote but how we don’t utilise it. We really don’t give importance to it. It talks about democracy; it’s a satire, a black comedy.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“There is a sense of responsibility when you play a real-life character because there are people who will see your work, make comparisons, and judge you. They have all the rights to do that because they know the real person. They might have seen that person also.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Playing a real-life character, as an actor, gives me real high because there is so much of research material available in front of you.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“It’s amazing how you get to recreate somebody else’s life on-screen. It’s wonderful when you get responses like, ‘You actually look like him.’”
― Rajkummar Rao
“My only job is to act and play the character truthfully and honestly.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I have immense respect for Nitesh sir and really admire his work. He’s one of my closest friends in the industry, with whom I can have a heart-to-heart chat.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I’m sure that both me and Sushant will collaborate on something exciting very soon.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“’Stree’ is a horror comedy in which a bridal ghost who is back in town to take revenge from men, she is the one giving a lot of pain to the men. We have reversed the role, which is such an amazing feeling.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I did not even know there are so many options for girls to wear. Playing a tailor gave me quite some knowledge about girls’ clothing.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Whenever I think I’m going to do two films a year, I get another wonderful story, like ‘Stree’, and I’m like, ‘Wow!’”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Everybody is replaceable; nobody is irreplaceable here. If I’m going to say no to it because I want to do two films a year and sit at home, someone else will.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I am a greedy actor: I want all the scripts to come to me. So I do all the good films which come my way, even if it means I’ll rest a little less.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Every time I think I’m going to take it slow, a good script comes along.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I am very proud of ‘Newton.’ It’s a wonderful film.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“If I like a particular character or story, I usually say yes to the film.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I love playing different and challenging characters on screen, and Newton is one such role. But I’m someone who doesn’t think so much about what will happen next.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Whenever I like a character or a script, I take up the project and leave the rest to the audience.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I don’t really think about the box office, but I want my films to do well.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I don’t know how a hero feels, honestly. I feel like an actor; I wanted to be an actor. I always want to feel just like an actor. I don’t know this ‘hero’ term.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“The speed at which cinema is changing, the definition of hero is also changing. Even a big superstar like Aamir sir plays the role of a father. There’s action genre, where you have to show body and do stunts, so you may call that a hero.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Content is getting its due respect. Our audience wants to see characters on screen and want to see actors play new roles, adapt different body language.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“Filmmaking is teamwork.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“After finishing my study in Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), I was mentally prepared for the struggle in the film industry.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“There was a phase where nothing was going right, and the thought crossed my mind that what is going to happen. Since I had no Plan B, I was sure from the beginning that I love acting and this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, so I had to be ready to struggle.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I was fortunate to work with some of the talented filmmakers of our industry. In addition, one film leads to another. As a newcomer, I explored those opportunities.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“All the characters play an important role. For me, as an actor, for my character to come out so beautifully, I would give all the credit to my co-actors, directors and writers.”
― Rajkummar Rao
“I am very happy for the kind of response I am getting for my work, but there was a lot of hard work that has gone into it.”
― Rajkummar Rao
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