Rajkummar Rao

Rajkummar Rao

Rao at the Lakme Fashion Week, 2015
Born Rajkumar Rao Yadav
Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Occupation Actor
Years active 2010–present

Rajkummar Rao Yadav[1] is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He made his film debut with the 2010 experimental film Love Sex aur Dhokha and achieved success in 2013 with the drama film Kai Po Che!, for which he was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actor and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Shahid Azmi in the 2013 biographical film Shahid.[2] In 2014, Rao portrayed the leading man in the financially successful film Queen.[3]

Early life and education

Rajkummar Rao was born in Gurgaon, India.[4] Rajkummar caught the acting bug on a theatre stage in his 10th grade. He finished his schooling in Gurgaon at Blue Bells Model School and graduated in Arts from Delhi University. He was simultaneously doing theatre with Kshitij Repertory and Shri Ram Centre (SRC) in Delhi. In 2008, Rajkummar graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune and shifted to Mumbai.[5]

Career

2010–2015: Early work

After graduating from FTII, Rao spent the next year visiting studios and meeting casting directors. In 2010, he got his big break when he was cast in Love Sex aur Dhokha, after responding to an ad that mentioned Dibakar Banerjee was looking for newcomers.[5][6]

Rao next signed Ekta Kapoor’s Ragini MMS where he played a negative role. Both Love Sex Aur Dhokha and Ragini MMS succeeded, and his performances in both films were appreciated. He also appeared in Bejoy Nambiar's Shaitan. Raja Sen of Rediff, while criticizing the film, singled out his performance as "reliably terrific".[7]

In 2012, Rao performed a series of small, but significant roles in films like Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2, Chittagong and Talaash. Anurag Kashyap selected Rao for Gangs Of Wasseypur, after watching his performance in Love Sex aur Dhokha. For the role of Shamshad Alam, he visited Wasseypur to perfect his character and accent. However, his character's screen time was considerably reduced in the final script. Rao who was eager to work with Anurag Kashyap, went ahead with the movie anyway.[5] In the critically acclaimed Chittagong, he portrayed the role of freedom fighter, Lokenath Bal. In Talaash, he played the role of a junior officer to Aamir Khan's character. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN commented, "...it takes Rajkumar Yadav just one scene - in which he's merely a spectator with a single line of dialogue - to show what a good actor can bring even to a small part."[8]

2013–present: Critical acclaim

In 2013, Rao played the role of Govind in the film Kai Po Che!, Abhishek Kapoor's adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel The 3 Mistakes of My Life. The movie was a commercial and critical success, and earned praise for the lead performances. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV remarked, "No praise would be enough for Raj Kumar Rao. Delivering a measured performance as the self-effacing man lost in “the magic of numbers”, he is a consummate scene-stealer."[9] He followed Kai Po Che! with a leading role in the biopic Shahid, based on the life of the slain lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi. It earned praise from the critics with Anupama Chopra writing: "Shahid is Raj Kumar’s triumph. His Shahid has strength, anguish and a controlled anger, but also real charm. His smile lights up the frame. See Shahid for him."[10] The role earned him a National Film Award for Best Actor (shared with Suraj Venjaramoodu for Perariyathavar) and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.[11][12]

Rao then starred in the coming-of-age dramedy Queen (2014) opposite Kangana Ranaut. He played Vijay, a man who calls off his wedding with his fiancée. Rao's performance was well received; Saibal Chatterjee wrote that "He brings remarkable restraint to bear upon his interpretation of the disgustingly conservative city slicker who cannot see beyond his nose. Rarely has an object of derision stood his ground with as much firm intent as he does."[13] The film received critical acclaim and was financially successful.[14][15][16]

Rao next starred in Hansal Mehta's drama City Lights (2014). In 2015, he appeared alongside Sonam Kapoor and Pulkit Samrat in the romantic comedy Dolly Ki Doli (2015).[17][18] In April 2015, Rao featured with Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan in Hamari Adhuri Kahani. Both Dolly Ki Doli and Hamari Adhuri Kahani were box-office flops.[19][20]

Filmography

Key
Film yet to release Denotes films that have not yet been released
Films
Year Title Role Notes
2010 Love Sex aur Dhokha Adarsh
2011 Ragini MMS Uday
Shaitan Malwankar Pintya
2012 Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2 Shamshad Alam
Chittagong Lokenath Bal
Talaash: The Answer Lies Within Devrath Kulkarni
2013 Kai Po Che! Govind Patel Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
D-Day Moin (voice) Cameo appearance
Shahid Shahid Azmi National Film Award for Best Actor
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor
2014 Queen Vijay
CityLights Deepak Singh
2015 Dolly Ki Doli Sonu Sherawat
Hamari Adhuri Kahani Hari Prasad
2016 Aligarh Deepu Sebastian

References

  1. ↑ "Rajkumar Yadav is now Rajkummar Rao". NDTV. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  2. ↑ "61st National Film Awards For 2013" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
  3. ↑ "Rajkummar all set to Romance Hema Malini". www.cinesprint.com. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Raj Kumar : Making of an actor". Mint (newspaper). Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 ""I still don’t get car parking in my society" - Raj Kumar Yadav". Filmfare. Retrieved 12 Jun 2013.
  6. ↑ "‘I would love to be born as Marlon Brando’". Tehelka. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  7. ↑ "Shaitan is more SprayTan than Satan". Rediff. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "'Talaash' review". CNN-IBN. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "Movie review: Kai Po Che!". NDTV. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  10. ↑ "Movie Review: Shahid by Anupama Chopra". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  11. ↑ "Filmfare Awards 2014: The complete list of winners". IBNLive. Retrieved 25 Jan 2014.
  12. ↑ "Heart slowed down when I heard that I won National Award: Rajkumar Rao". Firstpost. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  13. ↑ Chatterjee, Saibal (8 March 2014). "Queen movie review". NDTV. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  14. ↑ Mehta, Ankita (6 March 2014). "‘Queen’ Review Roundup: Watch it for Kangana's Superb Performance". International Business Times. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "Box Office: Bewakoofiyaan does below average business". Rediff.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  16. ↑ "Queen Closes In On 60 Crore". Box Office India. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  17. ↑ Jha, Subhash K. (17 April 2014). ""It's been a long hard struggle" - Hansal Mehta". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  18. ↑ Goyal. Divya (6 April 2014). "Sonam Kapoor shoots 16 hours non stop for ‘Dolly Ki Doli’, despite high fever". The Indian Express. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  19. ↑ Singh, Apurva (12 April 2014). "Mahesh Bhatt: ‘Humari Adhuri Kahani’ to be completed with Vidya Balan". The Indian Express. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  20. ↑ "'Hamari Adhuri Kahani' - Movie Review". Mid-Day. Retrieved 12 June 2015.

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