Rajkummar Rao is all set to impress the US audience in his first film for 2021, The White Tiger. This time he shares the screen space with global icon Priyanka Chopra.
While both the actors are known for their brilliance in the Hindi film industry, The White Tiger as a film has structurally has given more dedication and prominence to fledgeling actor Adarsh Gourav.
The White Tiger individually is a well-narrated masterpiece, exploring the multitudes of India, but Rajkummar Rao had a little less to contribute than what he has done earlier in his career.
Here are 10 stunning performances of Rajkummar Rao American audience should watch before The White Tiger.
Omerta
The soul of Hansal Mehta's film is Rajkummar Rao who has completely immersed himself as Omar Sheikh. His eyes do not bear the jolly gleam that the actor carries in his personal life. He completely erases his own personality and adapts the appearance of a terrorist who kidnaps foreign tourists in India to avenge the death of his Muslim brothers.
Love Sex Aur Dhoka
Dibakar Banerjee's film had marked Rajkummar Rao's (who was then Rajkumar Yadav) first Hindi film. In Love Sex Aur Dhoka, (LSD) Rao began his career as a pervert who tricked a girl to film her having sex with him. LSD had been entirely shot in a video camera mode and footages of CCTV had also been included in the content.
Shahid
Rajkummar Rao grabbed a National Award for Best Actor for his stellar performance in Shahid. The film became Rajkummar Rao' strength. The film narrates a fictionalised story of a human rights activist, lawyer, who was gunned down in his office in the year 2010.
After the communal riots in Mumbai Shahid spent his time in a terror training camp. After breaking his illusions at the camp he returned to the city on to be arrested for suspected terror activities.
Newton
If Shahid had been Rajkummar Rao's strength, Newton became his triumph. Amit Masurkar's film went on to win a National Award in 2018. The film had been a charming satire about the largest democracy of the 21st century.
The film doesn't really pick a side but put right in front of us a picture of the state versus Naxalite, the bloody battle of the Maoist. When government officer Nutan Kumar sets foot in a Maoist hit area to conduct free and fair elections he witnesses a different side of democracy where his idealism takes a back seat in the jungles.
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Although Bareilly Ki Barfi initially helmed itself as an Ayushmann Khurrana film, Rajkummar Rao managed to swoop in as a supporting cast and steal the focus from the entire cast.
Rao played Pritam Vidrohi, a meek, disciplined man in the first half and who later turns into a completely colourful 'babua'. A hint of his character is hidden in the name itself. The Meek guy hides in the first name Pritam, and rebel guy exposes himself in the last name, Vidrohi.
Trapped
Trapped is a story that can happen to any of us. There are films which are written for narration but Trapped was a film written solely to expose the talent that had been stored inside actor Rajkummar Rao for the longest time.
Trapped tells the story of Shaurya, a strict vegetarian, a pro-beef ban person, who gets trapped inside the 35th floor of a building. There's no electricity for days and he literally cuts his veins to get help from physically distant neighbours. When help arrives it does not come with much hope.
Stree
It takes a special kind of talent to write a film about the toxic world faced by women every day, and add an element of comedy in it. In Stree, the men are made to live the life of women for four days and they remain completely haunted and terrified.
Various precautionary advises which are given to them such as 'stay inside the premises of your house,' don't walk out alone', 'always stay in groups', 'cover yourself properly in a saree', are the regular notices given to the women of this country to avoid them from getting raped. There's a ghost in the town of Chanderi who makes life terrible for men only when they give their consent through their body language.
Kai Po Che
Kai Po Che had marked the debut of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput on the big screen. Rao played Govind, a wise young, thinker, with the right kinds of ideas to set up a business with his friends. Unlike people of his age, he isn't exactly a care-free, happy-go-lucky person.
He possesses the rare quality of planning his future but being a young businessman, he fails to take a look at the possible failures in his career and that takes a huge turn in their star up sports shop, which gets ruined after the Gujarat earthquake.
Judgemental Hai Kya
In Judgemental Hai Kya he plays a sly, serial killing villain again, who seeks pleasure in the brutal murder of women. He enjoys the smell of flesh burning in the fire, and women screaming in pain. He successfully keeps his identity a secret until he confronts Bobby, who smells something fishy about his smooth appearance.
Behen Hogi Teri
American boys fear being friend-zoned, desi boys, fear being 'Bhai zoned'. It's a space in a girl-boy relationship where the boy fears playing the role of a brother in the woman's life, despite not being related to her. Rao here plays Gattu; in India, with a name like that he feels extremely insecure to confess his love to Binny, the girl-next-door.
After winning Binny's heart, a new challenge comes up where he has to convince the family next door that the jobless Gattu is a better suitor than the businessman who lives in Paris. Binny and Gattu were raised like brothers and sisters. Their romance takes place in the lanes of Lucknow. Gattu's fear is the insecurity faced by many young men of India.
