Mumbai: Bollywood star Rajkummar Rao says he is thrilled to reunite with directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, who he said have added their unconventional brand of humour to their upcoming web series “Guns & Gulaabs”.
Rao, who earlier worked with Nidimoru and DK on their 2018 production “Stree”, said one of the key reasons to give his nod for the Netflix show was as it gave him an opportunity to work with his favourite creators.
“They are phenomenal. The quirk and humour they have are so unconventional. Nobody writes and presents a story the way they do it. I have known them before ‘Stree’ and when they told me about ‘Guns & Gulaabs’, I was fascinated.
“I was expecting something similar, wacky, and out of the box from them. I got such a big playground to play as an actor, there was so much to explore,” Rao, 37, told PTI in an interview.
Set in the ’90s, “Guns & Gulaabs” is billed as a story that depicts love and innocence through characters who navigate a world of crime. It also stars Dulquer Salmaan, Adarsh Gourav, Gulshan Devaiah and T J Bhanu.
A self-confessed fan of the ’90s Hindi cinema, the National Award winner said he had a lot of fun reliving the era while shooting for the show.
“The way we are styled in the film, the way we talk, the props we have used, having Campa Cola and Gold Spot (cold drink brands), it is so ’90s. I loved doing all this.”
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Growing up as a movie buff, Rao said he would often transform into characters from popular films from the period such as “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” and “Shool”.
“I enjoyed watching them and wanted to be part of these stories… I was that guy for two weeks, whatever film I would watch, like with ‘DDLJ’, I was Raj for two weeks.
“When I saw ‘Mohabbatein’ I got those sweaters and glasses, and I became Raj Aryan. I saw ‘Shool’ and I became like Samar Pratap Singh. I was a very filmy kid,” the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) graduate added.
Rao’s also has Anubhav Sinha’s “Bheed”, Netflix film “Monica My Darling” from Vasan Bala and Sharan Sharma’s “Mr and Mrs Mahi” in the pipeline.
“These are exciting times. I am enjoying being part of these beautiful stories and working with some fabulous makers. I have no complaints and that’s how I want to continue with this journey: just do films where my heart is and not to do for any other reason ever,” he added.
The actor’s latest release was director Sailesh Kolanu’s “HIT – The First Case”, which has received a mixed response from critics and audience alike.
The crime investigative action thriller is the Hindi remake of the 2020 Telugu film of the same name and arrived in cinema halls last week.
PTI