Quotes from Rajkummar Rao

After finishing my study in Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), I was mentally prepared for the struggle in the film industry.

When I was in Class Four, I wanted to be an astronaut. I am still fascinated with the universe. I decided I wanted to be an actor when I was in Class Eight.

My biggest high is just to be in front of the camera and be on a film set.

The process of playing a character as dark as Omar Saeed Sheikh is disturbing. So you have to mentally also be in that psyche, that state of mind. So, it was not easy. I was trying to cultivate a lot of anger and hatred in me while portraying him, because that's what I read and heard about him.

We're just actors, man, just part of things. We're just doing our jobs, like everyone else does their jobs. The adulation for us is much more because we are always in the public eye. But I never became an actor because I wanted people to scream out my name.

The only thing that I know is that if I like a particular script, I want to be as honest to my character as possible. That's the only thing I can control. I have made a lot of decisions on an impulse, and I am going to continue that.

A film like 'Kai Po Che!', 'Queen', 'Behen Hogi Teri' and 'Bareilly Ki Barfi' are not really independent films.

I don't take pressure. I can't really work under pressure. I do one film at a time, and I try to live in that character and in the moment. I am not a futuristic person who thinks what is going to happen after five years. And I don't live in the past.

I think media will tell me how many films I have done in 2018, same as they did in 2017. So, let's see how it goes, but I don't really keep a count. I love doing interesting work.

People claim that no good actors came out of FTII after Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. What they don't know is that the acting course was closed for 26 years and reopened only in 2004.

Every time I think I'm going to take it slow, a good script comes along.

There is a sense of responsibility when you play a real-life character because there are people who will see your work, make comparisons, and judge you. They have all the rights to do that because they know the real person. They might have seen that person also.

I am a greedy actor: I want all the scripts to come to me. So I do all the good films which come my way, even if it means I'll rest a little less.

I was a very outgoing guy. I loved roaming around, hanging out with friends. From class 5th, I practised and learnt martial arts for about 7-8 years and have won medals at the national level. Then I trained in dancing on stage. In class 10th, I acted in my first play, and that's when I realised I wanted to become an actor.

It's amazing how you get to recreate somebody else's life on-screen. It's wonderful when you get responses like, 'You actually look like him.'

I don't know the reason why someone would not speak up about sexual harassment. I don't know why it doesn't happen here, but I am sure it exists not only in our industry, but every industry, it is there.

We all have grown up watching Hindi romantic films, and when it comes to show love, that's probably how we show it.

'Newton' is a very Indian film. I think, after a long time, people will see an Indian film in its true form. As in the story, the character, it is set in the heartland of India, but it's purely like how there was a time when Hrishikesh Mukherjee used to make sweet Indian films.

When Raj and DK came and narrated me the script, the title was something else. But in conversation, I told them if we can name it 'Stree'. In a way, I was the one who decided the title. I found that one word very catchy.

I don't think that now I am a star. I don't get too much time to interact with people, and I am quite busy with work. I work. I come back home, and my loved ones are still the same. They will never change. And, I travel. I have not realised or internalised that life has changed.

It's a one-day story of a guy called Newton Kumar, and the backdrop is election: how the most powerful tool we have as citizens is vote but how we don't utilise it. We really don't give importance to it. It talks about democracy; it's a satire, a black comedy.

My process of choosing scripts remains the same. Of whatever I read and whatever excites me is what I will continue to take up.

All the characters play an important role. For me, as an actor, for my character to come out so beautifully, I would give all the credit to my co-actors, directors and writers.

Whenever I think I'm going to do two films a year, I get another wonderful story, like 'Stree', and I'm like, 'Wow!'