Rajkummar Rao’s rise from the fringes to the centrestage of Hindi cinema is one of the most inspiring rags-to-riches stories of Hindi cinema. Rao can do anything. He proves it in Toaster which began streaming this week. He will next be seen two back-to-back biopics.
Toaster is your first release this year. Are you feeling anxious?
Yes, Toaster is my first release and I’m excited about it. It’s a quirky fun film, a dark comedy, something that I enjoy doing as an actor. No, it doesn’t make me anxious. Patralekhaa has produced it and that makes it even more special.
Before 2026, you had a plethora of releases. Have you slowed down deliberately?
Yes, I’m making a conscious effort to slow down and the plan is to do two films a year, but of course, never say never. If there’s a really exciting script with a great filmmaker I will break that rule. But this is the plan as of now, so this year there is Toaster then there will be Raftaar, which is our first theatrical production and then there will be Nikam, my next biopic after Srikanth. After that there’ll be a long gap before Dada releases. I want to do work that scares me, that makes me nervous and a lot of prep is required.
You are playing Sourav Ganguli. Is that a big responsibility?
Of course that’s a big responsibility. Lot of preparation was needed. It was difficult to learn to play left-handed. I watched hours and hours of his videos. I personally met him, spent time with him and got to know him. Playing Dada comes with a big responsibility as he has changed the way Indian cricket team functions. I am extremely excited.
