Rajkummar Rao: I was not affected by the controversy of 'Newton'

National Award winning actor Rajkummar Rao recently said that he was never really affected by the controversy over his film 'Newton', which has been selected as India’s entry for the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ Oscar nomination. After the Oscar announcement, speculations arose that the film's plot was similar to that of an Iranian film titled 'Secret Ballot', but the makers of both the films quickly put all those rumours to rest.

Now, Rajkummar has spoken about the topic and stated, "I was not affected by the controversy of 'Newton' because I knew that these two are two different films. I knew it from the script. However, I am happy that everyone who created the controversy, has got an answer when the producer made a statement mentioning that the film is different from 'Secret Ballot'.”

On the work front, the actor will next be seen in 'Shaadi Mein Zaroor' Aana opposite Kriti Kharbanda. Talking about his character in the film, Rajkummar said, “My character has a journey that travels the phase from a college pass out of a small town to falling in love with a girl and to becoming a successful, rich guy. It is a revenge story and how love makes you do things that you cannot do otherwise.”

When asked if he finds it interesting to work on such genres, he said, “See, for me, experience counts first, and then the numbers. I have to like the film enough to invest my time. Rest will fall in place. Yes, 'Bareilly Ki Barfi' worked and I am happy. See, I am trying to say that at the end of the day, I do not want to say that ‘I shouldn’t have done this film’. Therefore, liking the film from my end is important.”

Talking about being a part of women-centric films, Rajkummar said, “I see no harm in playing small parts in a female-centric film if the role is pivotal. I have done it in 'Queen'. For me, it is the importance of the character and not the length of it. So yes, I will be doing that in future.”

(Also read: Rajkummar Rao on romancing Aishwarya: I'm both nervous and excited)

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