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Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao is currently basking in the success of his latest outing Srikanth, director Tushar Hiranandani’s biographical film based on the life of Srikanth Bolla, a visually-impaired industrialist. While Rajkummar Rao’s performance has been receiving an overwhelming response from all quarters, the movie itself is also performing well at the box office.
Meanwhile, the actor recently took a trip down memory lane and recalled the initial days of his career after he moved to Mumbai from his hometown of Gurugram (then known as Gurgaon). “When I was growing up, Gurgaon was not such a big city (as it is today). Compared to that, Mumbai was very expensive for me initially, especially since I hailed from a very humble background. The cultural difference was also very evident. But this is where I had to stay, and I always had immense love for Mumbai,” he said during a chat with We Are Yuvaa.
“Right after I completed Class 10, I came to Mumbai to give an audition for Boogie Woogie (a dance competition TV series). I just wanted to visit Mumbai, see the city, and maybe Shah Rukh Khan’s house too. I was 16 at that time. Along with my 12-year-old cousin, I came to the city on a train. Since neither of us had any money, we borrowed Rs 5,000 from an aunt. My family was very supportive, and they were fine with two kids travelling all the way to Mumbai alone. It took three days for us to reach Mumbai. But once here, I was mesmerised by the city,” he recalled.
Mentioning that though he attended the Boogie Woogie audition, he wasn’t selected, Rajkummar further reminisced about the memories of his first visit to Mumbai, including waiting in front of Shah Rukh Khan’s house all day. “On the last night, we stayed at the railway station itself and ate just vada pav because we were out of money by then. We were here for two days. We used to reach Mannat at 10 am and wait till 4-5 pm, hoping that we would see him.”
Recalling the first time he finally met Shah Rukh Khan face to face, Rajkummar said, “He is one of the reasons I became an actor. I was very impressed and inspired by his journey, especially since he too is from Delhi, an outsider, and had a theatre background. But meeting him was so surreal. We were promoting CityLights (2014) at that time. I got to know that he was shooting in Mehboob Studio. Though I wanted to meet him, I was scared initially. I messaged Shakun (Batra) who was there for an advertisement. Then, he got back and said that he (SRK) was calling me. I immediately started prepping up to introduce myself and tell him my name’s Rajkummar Rao and that I am an actor who studied in FTII. But he knew everything about me! He knew I had received a National Award for Shahid, that Kai Po Che was good, and that Citylights was coming soon. I was just sitting there like how he was in Om Shanti Om with ‘Aayi Aisi Raat Hai Jo’ playing in my head.”
Rajkummar further said that despite meeting Shah Rukh Khan many times after that, he still gets star-struck whenever he encounters Bollywood’s Baadshah again. “Even now, if I get a call from any of my seniors and see ‘Akshay Kumar calling’ or ‘Shah Rukh Khan calling,’ I get so excited. The fan and the Gurgaon kid inside me, who is still very much alive, get very excited.”
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