Rajkummar Rao is riding high on the success of his latest horror-comedy Stree 2, starring Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee and Aparshakti Khurana. The film crossed Rs 386 crores in India and surpassed the Rs 500 crore mark worldwide in just 11 days. Directed by Amar Kaushik, the sequel to the 2018 movie has set the box office on fire.
Talking about the success of Stree 2, Rajkummar Rao, in an exclusive interview with News18, said, “We were sure that the film would get lot of love because of the love that Stree 1 got. There’s a big fan-following for Stree, including me. I am a huge fan of Stree myself. But these numbers are way above our expectations. We are glad and super elated. There’s a lot of gratitude that this is happening with a film like Stree, because it is content-driven film.”
“Versatile” is a term synonymous with Rajkummar Rao. His films and the roles he has played so far have been very different from one another, and time and again, the Omerta actor proves his versatility through the types of films he cherry-picks. “I try and choose different characters. People should not say that Raj only does certain kind of cinema. I want to do everything — comedy, drama, biopics, horror-comedy, action – why not! I don’t want to put myself in a slot. So, that’s a very conscious decision that I challenge myself as an actor with different characters. Also, that’s what keeps me going,” he shared.
Rao has firmly established himself as a Bollywood superstar, but his journey to success was far from easy. When asked about it, he said, “There’s a lot of gratitude. God has been really kind. I have got a lot of love from the audience and they have accepted me for who I am. I have come from nowhere. I come from a very humble beginning. I didn’t grow up with money around me. I am one of their [audience’s] own. A lot of messages I get say that it feels like a personal victory, which is overwhelming.”
Opening up on his early days, Rao shared, “The journey wasn’t easy. It was tough. Starting from my theatre days in Delhi, where, sometimes, I didn’t have enough money to take the state transport. So, I would cycle 70 km up and down. Then, coming to Mumbai after FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) – it is an expensive city. So, just to survive here was a task. I didn’t know anyone, where to start, who to meet. I used to figure my way out.”
Through his struggling days as an actor in an unknown city, he fondly remembered how his family and especially his mother was his biggest cheerleader and support. “My family, especially my mother was always there with me, supporting and motivating me that it would work out and to just be honest and be sincere to what you do. She knew how passionate I am about what I do. So, those blessings and god just showed me the right way and I met the right people,” Rao shared.
However, despite landing his first film, things were not easy for him. “It started with LSD. Money was still a problem for a long time even after I started working. But money was never the motivational factor for me. I was not chasing fame and money here; I was chasing good work. That hunt and that greed are still intact,” he concluded.
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