Bareilly Ki Barfi is Rajkummar Rao’s fourth release of 2017 — he’s already had Trapped, Behen Hogi Teri and Raabta — and before the year ends, his fans have two more films and one webseries to look forward to. The 32-year-old’s line-up for the year includes Newton that won the CICAE Award for Best Film in the Forum Section at the Berlin Film Festival. The actor also plays Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in the ALTBalaji web series Bose: Dead/Alive. Hansal Mehta’s political thriller Omerta will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. “Exciting times ahead,” Rajkummar confirmed when t2 met the actor during the promotions of Bareilly Ki Barfi at Novotel in Mumbai recently. Our chat spanned phuchkas to tae kwon do!

The teaser for Bose: Dead/Alive is looking so good! The first thing one notices is your partly shaved head. Was that an easy decision to make?

It wasn’t a difficult decision. Playing Netaji is a huge responsibility. Everyone loves him so much. He is such a heroic figure. When the part came my way, I was so scared... I am still so scared. In order to achieve his look, we tried bald patches, but it didn’t work. It just felt fake. So I told Aalim bhai (Aalim Hakim, hairstylist) to shave it off. He was very apprehensive but I managed to convince him. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I knew I had made the right decision. I started feeling like him. The process of transforming into Netaji started externally. These are the tools I used to reach his psyche. I also put on weight. 

You also started smoking...

Yes. He used to smoke and I don’t. I didn’t want to fake it so I learnt how to smoke. It’s not a good thing for your body. It took a toll on my health. I can’t wait for the last day of shoot, so I can stop smoking. We are almost done with the shoot.

You shot a major portion in Calcutta...

Yes. We were there for about 40 days. It was a hectic schedule so, unfortunately, I didn’t get too much free time. I’ve been to Calcutta before and I love the city. It has that old-world charm and the food is amazing. I love phuchkas and churmur. We shot in a lot of real locations. The moment you step into those century-old houses, you are instantly transported to that era. Apart from Calcutta, we’ve also shot in Ladakh and Rajasthan. We will be shooting next in Poland, Thailand and Japan. 

You’ve already had quite an incredible year!

Thank you. It’s exciting to do different work in every film and to challenge myself as an actor. I feel very fortunate that people are visualising me in all these amazing and varied parts. 

So, when a film like Bareilly Ki Barfi comes your way, what piques your interest?

The story. It’s a very entertaining story. My reason for doing Bareilly... is not because it’s a commercial film. My character (Pritam) has such different personalities in the film. It’s almost like playing a double role. As an actor, it gave me something to explore. It’s a very real film, which is the space that I come from. I am not suddenly doing a ‘filmi’ role. 

Bareilly, like you mentioned, is a commercial film, a genre that you’ve not had too much success with. There is no doubt that you are a fantastic actor but your quest for stardom continues...

Being a star is accidental. It can happen overnight. And you can never predict what film will make you a star. I don’t really plan that way. I am only interested in the story of my character. If Behen Hogi Teri had made (Rs) 50 crore, I would have become an overnight star but no, there is no way to predict this. Also, it’s really tough to maintain stardom. We have seen actors who had five flops after that one big hit. Stardom is not constant. There is no point wasting your energy in things you can’t control or predict.  

Compared to films like Trapped, Shahid or Citylights, Bareilly feels lightweight. As an actor, is it easier to do?

I wouldn’t say it’s easier but yes, it doesn’t tire you mentally. It’s a light-hearted script and the shoot was breezy. Having said that, my preparation for the character was the same. I had to learn a new spoken language and two different body languages. 

For Trapped, you lost a lot of weight and for Bose you put on weight. Your body must have thanked you for doing Bareilly... because it didn’t require a physical transformation! 

(Laughs) My body and mind both must have been really happy. As an actor, I want to maintain a neutral shape, so that it would be easier to lose or put on as a character demands. Bose is the first time that someone asked me to gain weight. I ate everything that I wasn’t allowed to eat all these years. Before coming to Mumbai, I loved gulab jamuns. When people saw me eating them in Mumbai, they were shocked. Apparently actors aren’t supposed to eat them. Thanks to Bose, I got to eat gulab jamuns again! 

Talking about the time before you came to Mumbai, is it true that you learnt martial arts and you danced on stage?

Yes. People have seen me dance a little bit now with films like Behen Hogi Teri and Bareilly... but they haven’t seen me do martial arts. 

I can’t imagine you doing martial arts!

(Laughs) I am a gold-medallist in tae kwon do! I competed at the national level. I haven’t had the opportunity to showcase that talent. Though, honestly, I am not dying to. I don’t need to prove that I can do this as well. I just want to continue being true to the characters I play. If my character has to dance or fight, then I will. 

Hypothetically, if you had to be part of an action film, what kind would you want to make?

Maybe a sports film. My character could practice martial arts. Like Shekhar Kapur is making a film on Bruce Lee. I definitely can’t play Bruce Lee but something like that. 

Karishma Upadhyay