Rajkummar Rao Says 'Gangs Of Wasseypur' Was Him Vs Nawazuddin Siddiqui: "Bura To Laga..."
Rajkummar Rao is currently promoting his upcoming film, Maalik, and has been giving interviews back to back. In a recent interaction, he opened up about a defining phase in his acting career. The actor recalled his association with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and Gangs of Wasseypur.
Rajkummar revealed that his role in the film was originally planned to be a parallel lead alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui, but later got drastically reduced.
Recalling how Gangs of Wasseypur was originally meant to be a showdown between his and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s characters, Rajkummar Rao said, “Anurag sir called me for Gangs of Wasseypur. At that time, Wasseypur was supposed to be between me and Nawaz. The story was between these two characters.”
He added that he was very excited to do a parallel lead in the movie, and even went to Wasseypur with Nawaz and Zeeshan Qadari. “Nawaz and I actually went to Wasseypur with the writer. Zeeshan hume leke gaye the kyunki wo wahi se hain. Hum log waha rahe kuchh time. I was recording people on my voice recorder just to get the accent and to understand the milieu. Bahot maza aaya.
However, things took a turn when Rajkummar received a call from Anurag while he was shooting patchwork for Ragini MMS. “I met him and he said ki sun script aa gayi hai but abhi tera role usme kuchh bacha nahi hai, to tu dekh kya karna hai. I would love to have you in my film, but you decide. I said, sir, mujhe aapke saath kaam karna hai. I don't know kitna bada role hai but jo bhi hai main karunga
Rajkummar admitted that he felt bad when Kashyap informed him about his reduced screen time. “Of course thoda bura laga tha, kyunki mujhe pata nahi tha ki kitna (role) kata hai. We all are humans. Mujhe thoda bura to laga tha ki yaar hum log to gaye the train se teen din lage the wahan pahuchne me, train se wapas bhi aaye the.
Despite the initial setback, Rajkummar credits Anurag for recommending him to Hansal Mehta for Shahid, a turning point in his career.
Social and lead images: Tipping Point Films, Instagram/rajkummar_rao