With two back-to-back global releases, Rajpal Yadav is tasting success as never before. Known to be a method actor who takes every character very seriously, Yadav says he likes to be referred to as the tragicomic star of Bollywood. In Pied Piper, he plays the role of a dhobi who accidentally acquires his donkey’s brains. In his other film on the Bhopal Gas leak, he plays the lead protagonist. Deebashree Mohanty chats up this global desi with a different perspective
There are very few like Rajpal Yadav who can make you laugh hysterically (in Bhool Bhulaiya and many others) and sob inconsolably (in Main Mere Patni Aur Woh) too. A natural in front of the camera, Yadav doesn’t like to wear a lot of make up. “Ab mera chehra jaisa hai waise hi rahega. Make-up se koi naya insaan to nahin banjaunga...” he says. Although he does have his quirks, Yadav likes to believe he is the most ordinary actor one can come across in Bollywood.
At present though, he is busy painting Chicago red with his global premier of Pied Piper, a movie by Vivek Budakoti that is a situational comedy told through a dhobi. “Chunnilal is the most beautiful role that I have had enacted thus far. It is very earthy. Over a decade ago, director Budakoti and I met on the sets of a film and discussed an idea. To my utter surprise, the next day he walks in and says that the shoot will start in 15 days. I couldn’t believe him. It was just a weird idea and we had not even given it a serious thought. But Budakoti had everything sorted in his mind. He knew what he wanted to do. I had to let go a few offers to accommodate this film but I have no regrets. Pied Piper is going to set a new benchmark,” Yadav says.
He may not be a glib talker but Yadav has learnt the art of promotion very well. “It is a necessary evil. How will the world know what you have been working on and why the film is specialIJ,” he queries.
Coming back to Chunnilal, the dhobi in this film, Yadav says he was hungry for an opportunity like this film. “Only a fool would refuse such a project. As an actor you are always hungry, waiting for an opportunity where you find a lotus in the muck. This is that lotus. I enjoyed every moment of it and I am glad global audiences are loving it. As an actor, the film has been immensely satisfying,” he says.
But where is the fun part of Mr YadavIJ “Oh that is the crux of the film. It is nothing like the other comedies that I have attempted. In Pied Piper, I am a man who carries within him, the brain of a donkey. I have tried to adopt the mannerisms of the album as much as possible. So you will find me braying like one, walking and sometimes performing chores like a donkey. It was a huge challenge to pull something like this and I had to bend my back to get every scene right,” the method actor says.
“I am not finicky about the costumes I get or the make up artist dedicated to me but I am very particular about my lines. They have to be crisp and something everyone can relate to,” he says.
But Yadav admits that being choosy about lines doesn’t mean preparing for the character. “As an actor you have to completely get into the shoes of the character you are enacting. That is your preparation,” he says.
Apart from an impeccable comic timing, Yadav is also blessed with a face that suits character roles as well. For him, it is the serious roles that define him and not his comedies. For the actor who considers both Ram Gopal Verma and David Dhawan as his mentors it is the character that matters and not the length of the role. “I have acted in films where my role was limited to a few minutes like Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag. I have enjoyed acting in all my films. It is a different matter that not all of them were blockbusters,” he says.
The idea of a Rs 100 crore club in Bollywood is very skewed, for Yadav. In reality it is art cinema that has piqued interest of a global audience, he believes. Apart from this film, Yadav is looking forward to his other international venture, Bhopal, A Prayer For Rain. This is about interwoven stories of people in India and the US as they face dilemmas of their life time in the months leading to the biggest Industrial disaster in human history that claimed 10,000 innocent lives within a few hours.
“The film is inspired by real events and it was very different from the image I have as an comedienne. I am overwhelmed with this global response and I want this to continue for a long time,” the humble actor from Hyderabad says. Even Pied Piper is not just a movie where people will laugh and walk out. There is a serious undertone that people will carry with them. “Chunnilal who is rumoured to have acquired his donkey’s brains in a freak accident is charming millions with his asinine traits. But soon he rises to become the most popular hero of his time.Ill at ease by his non-conformist approach, suspicious establishment start to fear his influence on society. He must be stopped. Or better, he must be eliminated. The question remains, however, whether Chunnilal, the hero of a people, can altogether be erased from a collective consciousnessIJ,” he concludes.