Rajkummar Rao: Don't come unprepared to Mumbai to be an actor

Rajkummar Rao. File Pic/Yogen Shah

Rajkummar Rao, noted for his nuanced performances, says cinema is changing and aspiring artistes must prepare first before coming to Mumbai. "The only talent I had is that I fell in love with my art. I fell in love with acting as a kid. I was never chasing fame or money. I thought to myself that this is something I really love and I want to do for the rest of my life. With that dream, I started doing theatre in Delhi and later joined the film institute in Pune because I didn't want to come to this city unprepared," said Rao.

"I wanted to train myself first. This is something I often tell budding actors - (don't do it) just because your friends believe you can mimic and you have good looks and you should go to Mumbai. Do not come to Mumbai unprepared, especially now, when cinema is changing. We need talent out here now. So train yourself first and then come to this city, as there are so many wonderful opportunities. The only talent I had was not to give up and keep chasing my dream without having any plan B," said Rao, while interacting with the media at the launch of Satyam Srivastava and Rajeev Garg's book, Neelkanth.

Talking about the book, the actor said: "It's a mystery thriller about a cop in Delhi, so the concept of this book itself excited me a lot. After knowing both of them and after knowing its basic storyline, I am looking forward to reading it."

Asked if he would like to be a part of the film, which is reportedly being planned on the book, he said: "Absolutely! I am always in a search of good stories so that we can make a film out of it. I am sure it will be an interesting and exciting book, so I think we can make a major feature film out of this book."

Rao will next be seen in Abhishek Jain's Hum Do Humare Do with Kriti Sanon, Hardik Mehta's Roohi Afzana with Janhvi Kapoor, and Harshvardhan Kulkarni's Badhaai Do with Bhumi Pednekar.

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