Rajkummar Rao has completed 10 years in Bollywood. In his decade-long career, he had delivered hits such as Stree and critically acclaimed films such as Newton. But, the journey of a thousand miles commences with a single step. Which was Rajkummar’s first step? In the following text, we track it all.
The Family Background Of Rao
Rajkummar Rao was born as Raj Kumar Yadav on 31 August, 1984 in Prem Nagar, Gurugram, Haryana, India. He had two older siblings and three cousins in an extended family. His father, Satyapal Yadav, was a government employee in the revenue department, and his mother, Kamlesh Yadav, a homemaker. Both his parents have passed away. He completed his 12th standard from Blue Bells Model School, where he used to participate in school plays.
Sharing tidbits from his journey, he has been spotted saying several times “It used to be tough times for me. I come from a very humble middle-class background and there was a time in school when I didn’t have money and my teachers paid my school fees for two years.
Rajkummar’s Motivation To Break Into The Industry
Rao said that he decided to become an actor after seeing Manoj Bajpayee, stating he was “highly influenced” by the performance. In 2008, Rao enrolled in a two year acting course in Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune and shifted to Mumbai for a film career. Rao is a vegetarian. He had changed his surname to Rao from Yadav in 2014 and also added an extra ‘m’ to his name. He stated the reason: ““Rao or Yadav, I can use either of the surnames as both are family names. As far as the double ‘m’ in the first name is concerned, it’s for my mother. She believes in numerology.”
Early Days In The City Of Dreams – Mumbai
When I came to the city, we were living in a really small house. I was paying Rs 7000 of my share which I thought was too much. I needed around 15-20000 every month to survive and there were times I would get a notification that I have only 18 rupees left in my account. My friend would have 23 rupees.”
Facing rejection, getting replaced and his role being chopped off, he has seen it all. Not just that, Raj has also battled financial troubles all through his life – he made ends meet while struggling in Mumbai and had no money to eat or buy clothes.
He also reveals that he didn’t have enough money to even eat, sometimes. “FTII is a really big community. Sometimes, we used to borrow money. And other times, we would just go to their houses and share their meal sometimes. I didn’t have enough money to even buy proper T-shirts. There’s a friend of mine – Vinod – who’s also an actor and we used to travel for auditions on our bikes. I knew nothing about the presentation – of how to look, what to wear. With the pollution around, we would just get down and clean other’s face with rose water and think that it’s the best version of ourselves.” But given the place where he’s reached now, it won’t be wrong to say that dreams do come true, only if people would hang on.
Landing His First Role In A Movie
Rajkummar made his debut in 2010 with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex aur Dhoka and went on to garner critical acclaim with films like Kai Po Che!, Aligarh, Trapped and Shahid, for which he bagged the National Film Award.
After graduating from FTII in 2008, Rao spent the next year visiting studios and meeting casting directors. He did a small appearance as a news reader in Ram Gopal Varma’s 2010 political thriller Rann, for which he was not credited.
After reading in a newspaper advertisement that mentioned Dibakar Banerjee was looking for newcomers for his found footage anthology film Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010), he auditioned for the film and was finalised. The film consisted of three stories, with Rao appearing in the second story opposite Neha Chauhan. He played Adarsh, a supermarket supervisor who con’s an employee into sleeping with him so he can record the act on hidden camera and sell it. To resemble the role, he had to lose six kilograms (13 lb) of weight in a month. The film and Rao’s performance met with acclaim from critics. It also turned out to be a profitable box-office venture.
There Was No Looking Back Ever Again For Our Very Own Rajkummar Rao
Rajkummar Rao has completed 10 years in Bollywood. In his decade-long career, he had delivered hits such as Stree and critically acclaimed films such as Newton.
Rajkummar also shared an Instagram post about it. “It’s been 10 years for me in the industry. A dream that I saw in my hometown as a kid and to actually see it coming alive is nothing but blessings. Big thanks to all my co-actors, directors, producers, writers & technicians & Many thanks to YOU, the audience and cinema lovers all across the world. It wouldn’t have been possible without ur love & support. Thank you my KarmaBhoomi #Mumbai. It’s just a humble beginning for me. I’ll always try to push my boundaries and to entertain you and engage you with my work,” he captioned his post.
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