Amitabh Bachchan’s lookalike suffered financially during actor’s bankruptcy in 1990s, now he travels the world impersonating him: ‘Did free shows because majboori thi’

Also read – His dream project got cancelled because of Amitabh Bachchan’s bankruptcy, he took financial help from Raju Srivastav: ‘I had nothing for my children’

Rajkumar continued, “Everybody would only want to do major shows, but there have been ups and downs. There have been times when I have done shows that I didn’t want to do, because there was a majboori, I had to earn. Sometimes, some organisers would refuse to pay, and I’d have to go home empty handed.” He said that he quit his day job to focus on acting and performing full-time, and luckily, this happened to coincide with the release of Kaun Banega Crorepati, which was instrumental in relaunching Amitabh Bachchan’s career. For several years before that, the actor had been struggling professionally, first after he embarked on a political journey, and then when he launched his production business.

Asked about how the actor’s own downfall impacted his life, Rajkumar said, “Naturally, there was a huge struggle during that time. Look, I tried to get work as an actor, but it didn’t happen. I couldn’t understand scripts, I had no experience. After a while, I decided to focus fully on my live shows. Now, I travel the world. I’ve gone to South Africa, Ghana, Fiji, Australia, I’ve done a lot of shows in Dubai. I recently did shows in England; people call me during Diwali, especially,” he said. He also mentioned that he has worked as Bachchan’s body double in several advertisements over the years, and has also met him many times.

Last year, another Bachchan impersonator,  Gaurav Moleshri, appeared on Arhaan Khan’s Dumb Biryani podcast, and spoke about his journey. “I work as an office boy at the Anjuman I Islam school. I’ve never met Mr Bachchan. I came close once, but he left. My job takes up a lot of my time. I work from 10 to 5, but I bring a bag with my costumes, and take a train from CST to go to events. Birthday parties, wedding anniversaries… I also perform at sangeets, haldis, I dance and entertain people, I click selfies. We’re all performers at the end of the day,” he said.