Who plays Jaraj Saxena in Ba***ds of Bollywood? Left Mumbai after Rakesh Roshan edited his role, became real estate developer in Canada but ‘lost it all’

He was seen in negative roles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but did not find the kind of success he was looking for.

The Ba***ds of Bollywood marks his return in Bollywood

The Ba***ds of Bollywood marks Rajat Bedi's return in Bollywood. (Photo: Rajat Bedi/Instagram)

It is often assumed that those who come from film families are often served projects on a platter. But, despite getting an easy access into the Hindi film industry, not everyone manages to succeed in the movies, and one of those actors is Rajat Bedi, who is now making a strong comeback with Aryan Khan’s Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood as Jaraj Saxena. Rajat is the third generation from his family to have worked in the movies but despite a strong filmy background, he faced a lot of disappointment here and decided to move to Canada to become a real estate developer.

Rajat was the winner of the Gladrags Manhunt in 1994, and went to represent India in an international male beauty pageant the same year, where he won the second runners up. This was also the year when Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen won international beauty pageants and became renowned celebrities in India. Like the two women, Rajat was also looking to gain an entry in the movies, especially since his grandfather Rajendra Singh Bedi, and father Narendra Bedi, had written and directed many films in the past. Rajat too, had assisted Ramesh Sippy in Shah Rukh Khan starrer Zamana Deewana, and spent two years with the star.

In an earlier chat with Mukesh Khanna on his YouTube channel, Rajat shared that he was more interested in modelling than acting at the time, but slowly gravitated towards acting over time. After his international beauty pageant, he waited for three years for his debut film to take off, but that never happened. He said that despite being from a renowned film family, he had no one backing him as his father had passed away by the time he was entering films, so no one ever gave him sound advice.

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Rajat Bedi with Govinda. (Photo: Express Archives)

After appearing in a few films, Rajat Bedi bagged a key role in Hrithik Roshan-starrer Koi Mil Gaya but that didn’t help his career either. “There couldn’t be a bigger hit than Koi Mil Gaya but I didn’t gain anything from it. I had lots to do in that film but my track with Preity Zinta was chopped off. My biggest disappointment was, when Koi Mil Gaya released, I was completely left out of the promotions so I was very disappointed. Because you have certain expectations as an actor, and you feel bad,” he said.

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Soon after, he worked with Zayed Khan in a film called Rocky but that was a disappointment as well. “Zayed’s father was editing the film so when the father is doing it…” he told Mukesh and hinted that having a supportive film family was essential for success. Rajat had the name but since his father and grandfather had passed on, there was no one who could hold his hand in Bollywood. He also realised by this time that producers were not paying him as handsomely as he had expected, and so, he decided to move to Canada, and leave the world of films behind.

Rajat Bedi with Jackie Shroff. (Photo: Express Archives)

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“The reason behind leaving for Canada was that I was so disappointed with my career. I was thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ I was so frustrated,” he said and shared that he became a real estate developer in Canada. But that wasn’t a smooth ride either.

Rajat Bedi shared that he “earned a lot of money” there but “did some bad partnerships and lost it all.” He also started producing some Punjabi films in the meanwhile, and this attracted him to films all over again. He shared that he produced a Punjabi film called Golgappe, which was inspired by Hera Pheri.

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Rajat moved to India a couple of years ago and has since appeared in a few Telugu projects. The Ba***ds of Bollywood marks his return in Bollywood.

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