EXCLUSIVE! Rajkummar Rao: I am still figuring out the definition of ‘commercial cinema’
| Mar 17, 2017, 16:28 IST
Rajkummar Rao is among the finest actors in the Indian film industry. After making a successful Bollywood debut with Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Love Sex aur Dhokha’ in 2010, the actor went on to deliver some brilliant performances with films like ‘Kai Po Che’, ‘Queen’ and ‘City Lights’. His excellent portrayal of lawyer and human rights activist, Shahid Azmi, in the 2013 biopic ‘Shahid’, won him the National Film Award for Best Actor and cemented his place in the industry as one of the most promising talents from the current lot of actors.
Recently, we asked the actor if, apart from opting for non-conventional scripts, he is also interested in doing a typical masala film and commercial cinema. To this the actor asserted:
I am trying to figure out the definition of commercial cinema. For me ‘Kai Po Che’ and ‘Queen’ are as commercial as any other film. They have made money, they have lovely stories and good filmmakers were attached to the project. So I am really trying to figure out ‘what is the definition of commercial cinema’. Probably, after films have made money, people start calling them commercial. Films which have songs and dance, that’s what commercial is. So if that’s what commercial is, then I don’t mind singing and dancing because I love dancing. But the script should be the most important thing for any actor. If there’s a script that excites me as an actor, has six songs in it and I am dancing, I will do it happily.
The film’s director, Vikramaditya Motwane, won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for Kangana Ranaut starrer ‘Queen’. We asked the filmmaker, whether, apart from the National Awards, he believes in any other awards function, to which he said:
I think we have too many awards functions and ceremonies. The problem is that most of the ceremonies aren’t really about the awards but what happens around the awards. The reason why the National Awards work is that it is about the people and the films. I am not saying they haven’t made silly choices in the past, everybody has. But by and large, I would say that the National Awards are the standard-bearer for every other awards function.
Watch the interview here:
(Also read: Varun Dhawan: I also want to do what the Khan’s do so wonderfully)
Recently, we asked the actor if, apart from opting for non-conventional scripts, he is also interested in doing a typical masala film and commercial cinema. To this the actor asserted:
I am trying to figure out the definition of commercial cinema. For me ‘Kai Po Che’ and ‘Queen’ are as commercial as any other film. They have made money, they have lovely stories and good filmmakers were attached to the project. So I am really trying to figure out ‘what is the definition of commercial cinema’. Probably, after films have made money, people start calling them commercial. Films which have songs and dance, that’s what commercial is. So if that’s what commercial is, then I don’t mind singing and dancing because I love dancing. But the script should be the most important thing for any actor. If there’s a script that excites me as an actor, has six songs in it and I am dancing, I will do it happily.
The film’s director, Vikramaditya Motwane, won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for Kangana Ranaut starrer ‘Queen’. We asked the filmmaker, whether, apart from the National Awards, he believes in any other awards function, to which he said:
I think we have too many awards functions and ceremonies. The problem is that most of the ceremonies aren’t really about the awards but what happens around the awards. The reason why the National Awards work is that it is about the people and the films. I am not saying they haven’t made silly choices in the past, everybody has. But by and large, I would say that the National Awards are the standard-bearer for every other awards function.
Watch the interview here:
(Also read: Varun Dhawan: I also want to do what the Khan’s do so wonderfully)