Rajkumar Rao talks about playing a wife-beater in Hamari Adhuri Kahani
Rajkumar Rao
In Mohit Suri’s recently released Hamari Adhuri Kahani, Rajkumar Rao plays a wife-beating, possessive husband. About playing the grey character, he said, “The way I see it, Hari is not a villain. He loves his wife to death, although his way of showing love is very frightening. If I’ve managed to create a sense of empathy for the character, it’s because I never saw him as a villain. Such over-possessive men, who consider their wives to be their property, do exist. I saw Hari more as a product of a social mindset than a villain.”
Rajkumar also credits co-star Vidya Balan for helping him deliver his performance. “Vidya put me at ease completely. At the very start when I referred to her as ‘Vidya ma’am’, she gently reprimanded me and asked me to call her Vidya. That broke the ice between us. We had some really tough scenes to perform and she helped me tremendously.”
Did he know at the start that his role isn’t as pivotal as that of Emraan Hashmi? “When Mahesh Bhatt saab narrated the story to me, I did feel that my role was not that central. Bhatt saab told me to trust his judgement, which I did, because I respect and love the man. Once he expressed his determination to have me on board, I created a space for myself in the script. I think I’ve managed to make Hari human rather than an epitome of evil.”
Does he get tired of playing character roles that aren’t central to the plot? “It’s challenging to play characters that need to create their own space in a script. But it isn’t that I am not doing lead roles. I am the romantic lead in Ramesh Sippyji’s Simla Mirch and the narrator in Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh. The story unfolds as I see the situation in the plot. I’d like to think that I am able to create my own space no matter what the length of the role,” Rajkumar says.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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