‘Rajkummar Rao Goes the Extra Kilo To Play’

Rajkummar Rao’s startling transformation as special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam in the first look of the biopic Prahaar The Ujjwal Nikam Story is stunning. Rao has played real-life characters multiple times. Each time he has completely transformed himself to do so.

“It wasn’t easy to look like Ujjawal Nikam,” the actor told this writer. “I have been working towards this look for some months now. I had to gain around 9-10 kgs. I was eating two pizzas every day and lot of sweets, aloo parathas and biryani. I can’t say I enjoyed the binging. Only an actor can afford to let himself go for work reasons. But of course this kind of prep messes with your metabolism. I wouldn’t recommend it without medical advice.”

When Rajkummar played a stranded survivor in Vikram Motwane’s Trapped, he went the opposite way. “I stopped eating and drinking after Day 1 of my character being trapped in a high-rise apartment without food or water. I was just reacting in the moment and was trying to live each moment truthfully.”

About Nikam, Rajkummar says, “I’ve had the opportunity to play characters from both sides of the law. In Hansal Mehta’s Omerta I was a hardcore terrorist. Now in Prahaar I am a public prosecutor. You could say that is the entire performative spectrum. I want to keep exploring parts which put me in touch with untapped emotions within me.”

Prahaar The Ujjwal Nikam Story is heavily inspired by the historic courtroom battle and trial of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist to be captured alive after the devastating 26/11 Mumbai attacks. It explores the challenges Nikam faced to uncover the deeper international conspiracy, driving home the theme: “Killing Kasab was easy, proving who sent him was war.”

The movie to be released in August also features historical touchpoints from the 1993 Mumbai bombing.