I'M NOT IN ANY RACE

With a new film about to release on Netflix, actor Rajkummar Rao says he competes only with himself

-  Suhani Singh

Not everybody will like Jayant, the character Rajkummar Rao plays in the Netflix film Monica, O My Darling (releasing on November 11). Neither is he the idealistic Shahid or Newton whom audiences rooted for, nor is he the lovable fool of Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) and Stree (2018), someone who charmed our hearts. Jayant is, in Rao's words, an "opportunist" and a "victim of circumstances". Life pushes him onto an immoral path, one laden with dead bodies, diabolical characters, and, strangely, snakes and robots. It is to Rao's credit that he brings out the "humanness" in Jayant. There are points when he also manages to make audiences feel a touch sorry for him. "I never saw him as a villain," says Rao. "He is an aspiring, small-town guy who wants to have a good life. But one wrong step and he is in trouble. When you are stuck, you do everything possible to come out of it. The whole film is about survival." Rao himself is well-versed in the art of survival.

He first made his mark as a manipulative supermarket supervisor in LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (2010), and 10 years ago, he won a National Award for his performance in Shahid (2012), a biopic about the lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi. It has also only been five years since he entered the Rs 100 crore club with the horror comedy Stree.