Rajkummar Rao Through The Lens Of His Favourite Movies

Rajkummar Rao makes for a fascinating case study. In the last few years, he has been one of the driving forces behind making intelligent cinema accessible to audiences. He has helped in busting the myth that the Indian audience only consumes masala potboilers just because a Salman Khan rakes in the moolah. Stree and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga showed off his ability to be a “Bollywood” leading man, a romantic hero and someone who made song-and-dance feel refreshing. With hits, fans and a can-he-ever-deliver-a bad-performance tag, Rao is the present, and possibly, the future of Hindi cinema.

- Arnesh Ghose

During the climax of Stree, when Rajkummar’s Bicky is in the clutches of the lovelorn banshee, he is urged by Shraddha Kapoor to look into her eyes with love, the only way to get her under control. “Pyaar se dekho!” Shraddha tells him. Bicky struggles comically, not wanting to stare into the banshee’s horrifying face, trying to pull a Shah Rukh Khan, and ultimately ending, exasperatedly, with “Abbey humari gaand phati huyi hai, kahaan se laayenge pyaar?!” That was the film’s high point for me. It could easily have slipped into a caricature, meant for a quick laugh. It became an interesting commentary on a generation’s go-to trope for “Pyaar” – that which the movies have exaggeratedly told us can move mountains and control weather, only to horribly fail in front of scary reality.