In today’s time, there’s a long queue of people who want to work beside Rajkummar Rao while others want him to be the lead in their directorial. Rajkummar Rao has hundreds of opportunities coming his way which he can pick from based on what floats his boat. But things weren’t the same always. There was a time when Rao was a new face in the industry who was cast in ‘Love, S*x Air Dhokha’ and was working on his upcoming film Ragini MMS. Yes, we’re talking about all the way down in 2011. Nobody wanted to invest in him, everyone doubted what he could offer on screen.
Hansal Mehta is an Indian filmmaker who has just launched a Netflix series based on the true story of a Mumbai-based journalist, Jigna Vora. That piece has been a big hit. Mehta recollects the time in 2012 when he wasn’t ready to invest in Rao for his movie Shahid.
Shahid movie is about Shahid Azmi, a former militant operative, who goes on to become a criminal lawyer. He fights to get justice for those who have been falsely convicted of terrorism but himself meets an unjust end. This movie was under construction in 2012 and earned 3.5 crores on-board.
Hansal Mehta says about his movie, “I found Shahid Azmi’s story and my life restarted. Basically, I found my voice again and my muse in finding that voice was Rajkummar. Shahid, the script was sent to a lot of stars, and somehow either the star did not want to work with me, or if the star wanted to work with me, he wanted to change the way Shahid was written, change the narrative completely. I put my foot down. I said, ‘Either it is this or it’s nothing’.”
“And in that process, Mukesh Chabbra, Anurag (Kashyap), just threw Rajkummar, my way. They kept saying that meet Rajkummar. I said ‘I can’t meet him. What will I do with him?’. There was no money. The producer said, ‘Anurag is going to send Rajkummar to you. I’m not funding it. I’m not putting money in for Rajkummar’. He was very new. He had just done Love, Sex Aur Dhokha. They said have chai with him right now, he’s standing outside your office. He walks in, and in half an hour, I mean, there was something. I felt the right energy. I felt I connected to him and I saw honesty and hunger. He said he wanted to prove it. Shahid was a dream role and he recognised that.”
For More Updates :
Check out Filmify for the latest Movie updates, Movie Reviews, Ratings and all the Entertainment News in Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood, Hollywood and other industries.