Still the same boy from 'Aaja Ve': Rajkummar Rao on his journey since Sona Mohapatra's 2006 song

Rajkummar Rao has fond memories of featuring in Sona Mohapatra's "Aaja Ve" music video when he was a first-year FTII student. And though he has made a name for himself as a versatile star, the actor says he is still the same boy who was thrilled to be in front of the camera for the first time. The song, released in 2006 as part of Mohapatra's album "Sona", saw Rao making an appearance as a strict school master in a vibrant rural setting only to later shake a leg with his students and fellow villagers. "I'm still the same boy who was in that 'Aaja Ve' song... I made him up like a pansy school teacher. He's a school teacher but I thought kuch to alag karte hain," Rao, 40, told PTI in an interview. And it wasn't just him in the video. Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat, Rao's batchmates from Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), also appear as a barber and a sadhu, respectively. "(It) has almost all my batchmates. There's Jaideep and Vijay as well. There are a lot of people. The whole class was there because one of our seniors, Deepti, was shooting the video. "She said, 'Guys, we are making this video. Do you want to act in it?' All of us got excited because we were just first-year students. We were like. 'Yeah, sure!'" Rao recalled. The actor said it was pure fun to be working with his batchmates. "There were 20 of us in the class and it was just fun, just being with your classmates and shooting," he added. After graduating from FTII, Rao got his break in movies with Dibakar Banerjee's anthology movie "Love Sex Aur Dhokha" in 2010, followed by appearances in movies such as "Ragini MMS", "Shaitan", "Gangs of Wasseypur" and "Talaash". People eventually took note of him with Hansal Mehta's 2012's "Shahid", which also won him a best actor National Award. Since then, the actor has built a storied filmography of critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful titles such as "Aligarh", "Bareilly Ki Barfi", "Trapped", "Newton", "Badhaai Do", and the "Stree" film franchise. Reflecting on his evolution as an artiste, Rao said he has naturally grown as a performer. "I've certainly matured because you also live those many years. There's certain maturity that comes with age and you have those many years of experience with you. As a person, nothing has changed. I'm not counting materialistic things because they don't matter," he said. The actor's next movie is romantic comedy "Bhool Chuk Maaf", co-starring Wamiqa Gabbi. Set in Varanasi, the film features Rao as Ranjan, a man eagerly awaiting his wedding day with his girlfriend Titli (Gabbi). However, he finds himself stuck in a time loop, waking up every day on the morning of his haldi ceremony. "It's very well written, very funny. Also it's emotional where it has to be. It's a right mix of a good story with a lot of comedy and values," said the actor, adding that his favourite time-loop movie is Hollywood star Bill Murray's 1993 film "Groundhog Day". If he were stuck in a time loop where he could watch a movie on repeat, the actor said he would go for something lighthearted and comedic. "I think 'Jaane Bhi Do Na Yaaro' can be that one film," he added. Asked if he believes that in acting, giving multiple takes for a scene is akin to being stuck in a time loop, Rao said his endeavour is to do something new with every shot. "First of all, we are not someone who gives like 30 retakes. We also haven't worked with those makers who take 30 retakes. It's like two-three retakes sometimes. But then also, my process is that I can do something different in my second or third take, maybe try a new thing altogether. I try not to keep it monotonous. "Also, it's our job to treat it like it's the first take, even on a 30th take. The whole point is that this is happening for the first time, so it doesn't become a loop," he added. In some of his best roles, Rao has played the everyday man to perfection, highlighting their struggles as well as joy with authenticity. "I don't do anything consciously to portray it that way. But I take it with a lot of gratitude. It's a great feeling if people relate to my characters or to me or to my journey. They think that I'm one of their own, which is true. I am certainly one of them," he said, adding that he is also trying to break that image by doing varied kinds of movies. "I keep doing films like 'Srikanth' or 'Maalik'. I'm talking about the last two-three years, where I have played different personalities altogether. It is about a character, which is something that people would not expect in a way, that he would come do something like this. And I like doing that," he said."Maalik", which will release in theatres in July, is Rao's first action movie. "It's a cool film. It's my foray into the action genre and (has) raw action. I had a lot of fun. I have seen most of the film and I think people will really like it. It's a very new me, people would not imagine me doing all this." "Bhool Chuk Maaf", directed by Karan Sharma and produced by Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films, was set to be released in theatres on Friday. The film will now release directly on streaming service Prime Video on May 16 in light of "recent events and the heightened security drills across the nation", according to the makers.