In his latest Hindi-language biopic ‘Srikanth’, National Award-winning Indian actor Rajkummar Rao brings to life the stirring tale of a blind industrialist who didn’t let his disability define his existence. Srikanth Bolla, who was born poor but went on to study at Massachusetts Institute Of Technology in the United States, built a company worth Dh220 million dirhams in South India. He also famously sued an Indian state when they told him it was illegal to study Maths or Science at his secondary school because he was blind. His eventful and inspiring life is now a Bollywood film with Rao playing the central character.
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/bollywood/actor-rajkummar-rao-taps-into-the-life-of-a-visually-impaired-industrialist-in-new-film-srikanth-1.1715176552793
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#UAEnews #Indian #RajkummarRao
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00:00The things that we do about helping a visually impaired person is that we help them cross
00:04the road.
00:05You know, and we think, oh, we have done enough, we have done this is our good karma.
00:09But that's not what they need.
00:10They can do that on their own.
00:11They're very capable.
00:12They need opportunities.
00:13You know, they need equal opportunities, because they are very capable of doing everything
00:18that we do, that the technology has gone very advanced for them, everything is available
00:23to them.
00:24So that's what they need.
00:25And I'm very hopeful that Srikant would change that perception that they don't need only
00:30your sympathy.
00:31They need opportunities.
00:32Hi, Rajkumar, thank you so much for speaking to us.
00:38We have, it's like gone in seven minutes.
00:40So you need to be smart, impress us.
00:42Why should we watch Srikant?
00:44For a great inspiring story, because when I read the script, when I got to know about
00:49Srikant, I was absolutely moved.
00:51And I'm somebody who's always looking for inspiration around me.
00:53And Srikant really inspired me.
00:55And I think in the time, the day and time we're living in, we are, we want that inspiration
01:00from outside to push us, you know, to do better things in life, to grow bigger.
01:05And Srikant, just does that for you.
01:08Right.
01:09I thought Srikant was not defined by his disability in this one.
01:12He's trying to rise above it.
01:13And I think his biggest people are the people around him who tend to sympathize with him.
01:17Is that your biggest takeaway?
01:19You want to read, you know, your viewers to have that as a takeaway.
01:22Don't sympathize with them or empathize.
01:24They don't need any of that.
01:25Absolutely.
01:26When I met Srikant and so many other visually impaired people during my preparation, that's
01:31what exactly what I figured out that they don't need our sympathy.
01:34What they need is opportunity.
01:36What they need is respect from us because they are very much capable of doing everything
01:40that we all do.
01:42You know, so exactly.
01:43I think that's what was very exciting for me when I met Srikant, that how confident
01:48he is about life.
01:49He's so full of life.
01:50He's so witty.
01:51You don't feel like, you know, that feeling of pechara when you meet him, because he has
01:56also achieved so much in life.
01:58Right.
01:59It's also the triumph of the human spirit, right?
02:01And such underdog tales generally tend to do well.
02:04But what happens is it becomes didactic, almost like a morality, a lesson of cautionary tale,
02:08all of that.
02:09Were you very careful?
02:10Did you tell Tushar, your director, that you don't want it to be that?
02:13You know, like you guys are preaching to the sinners.
02:16Exactly.
02:17I think Tushar is very much capable.
02:18He's a very, very intelligent maker.
02:20And when it came to writing also, we wanted Srikant to be very human as a story.
02:25You know, everybody's flawed.
02:27Not everybody is just a goody boy, you know.
02:32Not everybody is a good boy.
02:33There are people who have flaws also.
02:34And same with Srikant.
02:35He is not the perfect man.
02:37But what he has done in life is, again, very inspiring.
02:40But we were very, very careful that, you know, we don't want it to be preachy at any point.
02:44And we want it to be, we want to project the story exactly the way it was, like how we
02:50got to know about Srikant.
02:51And we were moved just by listening to the story.
02:53That's exactly the way we have made the film.
02:55Right.
02:56When you see the trailer, you also realize that systemically a country as well is not
02:59very supportive to the differently abled, right?
03:02So in this case, do you think it brings attention to that as well?
03:05Because there's a bit where you have to go to MIT, but you just can't because, you know,
03:09the rules are against him or for differently abled people.
03:12So does the movie bring focus to that or throw a spotlight on it?
03:16Yeah, absolutely.
03:17But now, of course, saying that also now things have changed.
03:20This was Srikant almost, I would say, you know, 15 years back when things were different.
03:25But now things have changed.
03:27It's slightly better than what it was.
03:29Of course, there's a lot more that we can do and we are doing as a country for the disabled
03:34people.
03:35But yeah, we have focused on that also, like how things were so different and things were
03:39so tough for people with disabilities at that point of time.
03:43Right.
03:44And playing a visually impaired person.
03:46We saw Al Pacino at Centre for Women, Margarita with us, I mean, differently abled characters.
03:52How difficult is it to play a thing?
03:55This is very alien to you, the reality, right?
03:58And you need to be convincing.
03:59How did it, like what kind of process did you go through?
04:03No, you're right.
04:04I was very scared, you know, when I said yes to the film, but then I thought, how would
04:08I do it?
04:09Because I wanted it to be very truthful, to be very convincing.
04:12And for that, I knew that I had to do a lot of prep for this film.
04:16A lot of homework was needed.
04:18And that homework started by me visiting blind schools and then just spending time with visually
04:23impaired people there and spending hours with them, just by sitting with them, talking to
04:27them about their life, observing them, quietly sitting there and then, you know, learning
04:31their mannerisms, their body language.
04:34And then after that, I started spending time with Shrikant because I was reliving his life
04:39on screen.
04:41And I got to learn a lot from him.
04:42I would put him on tape, you know, I would record him for four hours and would go back
04:46home, revisit those tapes again and again, just to get it right.
04:50Because I knew it was a big challenge.
04:52And I didn't want it to go wrong, because you don't get this opportunity again and again
04:55to play somebody like Shrikant.
04:57Right.
04:58Rajkumar, do you think this is going to be a career defining role?
05:01I remember meeting you at DIFF at Shahid, I think at a Starbucks.
05:05And I remember it was a different time when there was no OTT.
05:08And you've come such a long way.
05:10So just watching you progress has been a pleasure.
05:12But you need to tell me, like, is this the kind of movies you want to attach yourself
05:17to?
05:18How has it been so far?
05:19Yeah, I do.
05:20I think this is who I am, you know.
05:24I think inherently, these stories attract me a lot.
05:27Of course, I end up doing films like Barili Ki Barfi, Ludo and Stree also, which are again,
05:32a lot of fun doing and making.
05:35I think coherently, my heart goes towards stories like Shahid or Trapped or Newton and
05:40now Shrikant.
05:41I love it.
05:42I think that that's my favorite genre to either a biopic or something which is drama.
05:47Right.
05:48Would you call yourself a tortured artist?
05:50You come across that.
05:51Give me those roles that really take it all out of you.
05:54How do you snap out of it as well?
05:57Not a tortured artist, but yeah, an artist who's hungry.
06:02I don't want to put myself in a comfort zone and do only those films where I know it would
06:08be very easy.
06:09I won't push myself.
06:10I want to push those boundaries, push those limits and do something and surprise me.
06:15Surprise myself that, oh, I didn't know I would be able to do it.
06:19But that's the fun.
06:20That's the fun of being an actor.
06:21Well, coming out is always slightly easier than going in, you know, and that's not very
06:27tough.
06:28Of course, it takes a few days, but once you switch off, once you start doing other things
06:31in life and slowly it starts vanishing.
06:35Right.
06:36You have a special connect with Papa Kehte Hai.
06:37I thought the song, you were singing with it.
06:39I thought it was such a moment of we grew up as an 80s kid.
06:42We got it.
06:43Do you think this movie is all about that?
06:46Finally impressing your parents, really?
06:48Does it all come back to impressing your parents?
06:51We need their approval and validation as an Indian kid.
06:55I think we all want our parents to be proud of us.
06:58Right.
06:59We all work towards that.
07:01So, yeah, in a way, yes, Srikant also, because he was born in such a poor background that
07:05he wanted to do so much for his parents also, you know, to take them out of that life and
07:09then to give them a better life.
07:11And for him, this was like his mantra that, you know, his father would always, as in the
07:15visuals, you see that his father was always very proud that, you know, my Srikant would
07:18do bigger things in life.
07:20And for him to actually do that, I think that's what the reason the song goes so well with
07:24our film, because somebody who has made his parents very proud.
07:28Right.
07:29Srikant, do you think as well, you are at a spot in life and career where you look back
07:33on your own journey and think, I've not done so shabbily.
07:35In fact, I'm doing quite good.
07:37No, honestly, no, I don't sit back and think like that.
07:40I just I enjoy working a lot.
07:43This is something which gives me a lot of peace and happiness.
07:46And I wanted to be an actor for myself and not to prove a point to anyone, because I
07:50genuinely think it's something which makes me the happiest, you know, just spending time
07:55with my loved ones and family and being on a film set are the only two things which I
08:01do and nothing else.
08:02So I don't sit back and think, what have I achieved in life, what am I going to be in
08:05five years?
08:06I live in the moment and I cherish that.
08:09Brilliant.
08:10And how important are the reviews for a movie such as this?
08:13Because it's not your traditional mainstream, you know, the big spectacle.
08:17It's not a tentpole movie.
08:18At the end of the day, it is a movie that needs word of mouth works, but Manimal Boys
08:23in Malayalam did incredibly well.
08:26Small movie, amazing movie.
08:27Exactly.
08:28So, you know, I'm hoping the same thing happens with you.
08:30But how difficult is it when how important are reviews and word of mouth at this point
08:35then?
08:36It's very important.
08:37I feel word of mouth is the biggest promotional campaign that anyone can do.
08:42You can do thousands of interviews and go to thousands of cities.
08:46Nothing matters if the film is not good.
08:48So I think for a film like this budget and mid budget films with a great intention and
08:52a beautiful story attached, word of mouth is very, very important and very helpful.
08:57And I'm very hopeful that, you know, we would get great reviews so that people because it's
09:01an important story.
09:03You know, if we don't make these such films won't work, it's troublesome.
09:09It's troublesome for our industry that, you know, otherwise people won't invest in such
09:12stories.
09:13That's the reason it's very important for these mid budget important stories to work.
09:18About this character, if you could tell me, is there anything that you found it incredibly
09:23challenging?
09:24Like, you know, certain characters, there's something that is difficult other than the
09:26physicality of it, was there anything that you thought was tough?
09:30Other than the physicality, I think what challenging was what I told, you know, Tushar was well
09:34when we before we started filming that, you know, I am not gonna see this film as a film
09:40about a blind boy, about a visually impaired boy.
09:43I'm gonna see this film as this great story, as a story of achievement.
09:49It's a triumph of life.
09:51And of course, he happens to be visually impaired.
09:53So let's not focus on him only being visually impaired.
09:56That's given.
09:57So I think that's the way we saw the film.
10:00Because we didn't want, as I said, we didn't want people to, you know, feel pity on Srikant
10:06because he's not like that.
10:07He's not that person.
10:08Yeah, he happens to be visually impaired.
10:10That's given but what has he has achieved in life that's way more bigger.
10:13No, I love the fact that he has so much sass.
10:17The scene which the traffic signal where, you know, we're not beggars, don't give the
10:21money to the beggar.
10:22I'll provide it.
10:23I thought that was quite a telling scene as well, where he's got attitude.
10:26See, the thing is, normally when we the first instinct of ours, Rajkumar, honestly, is to
10:31be like, kinder to them, when we won't be kind anyways, you know what I mean?
10:36Do you want to change that narrative that through this movie, you are hoping that you
10:39know, we'll see them as people.
10:41I really hope I really hope that happens.
10:45I think one of the, I would say, the things that we do about helping a visually impaired
10:51person is that we help them cross the road, you know, and we think, oh, we have done enough,
10:55we have done this is our good karma.
10:57But that's not what they need.
10:58They can do that on their own.
10:59They're very capable.
11:00They need opportunities.
11:01You know, they need equal opportunities, because they are very capable of doing everything
11:06that we do.
11:07There's that the technology has gone very advanced for them, everything is available
11:12to them.
11:14So that's what they need.
11:15And I'm very hopeful that Srikant would change that perception that they don't need only
11:20your sympathy.
11:21They need opportunities.
11:22Brilliant.
11:23And thank you so much for taking one for the differently abled out there, because it's
11:27amazing to see movies, you know, that are not like traditional, like heroes and all
11:33of that.
11:34Yeah.
11:35And I really hope you impress us.
11:36If you're in a movie, we watch it Rajkumar.
11:39But thank you for entertaining us.
11:41I really hope this movie works like Manjumal Boys.
11:45Yes.
11:46Fingers crossed.
11:47You take care.