From Love, Sex Aur Dhoka to Queen, Rajkumar Yadav on a roll

Highlights

• Beginning his showbiz journey with Dibakar Banerjee's digital film Love, Sex Aur Dhoka, Rajkumar Yadav has come a long way.
• The actor is being hailed for his brilliant turn as slain human rights lawyer in Hansal Mehta's Shahid. He has bagged Mira Nair's short film and is starring in a rom-com Queen with Kangna Ranaut. His upcoming film Kai Po Che is ready for release.
• Yadav, who is at the Dubai International Film Festival to present Shahid, says it has been a career defining role for him.
• "It is a very important film for my career. I had just finished LSD and was doing Wasseypur when my casting director Mukesh Chhabra and Anurag Kashyap suggested by name to Hansal Mehta for Shahid. He had met with some stars for the film but he told me that the moment he looked at me, he thought he had found his Shahid," Yadav told PTI.
• The actor says getting into the skin of Shahid was not easy because there is not much available on the slain lawyer.
• "It was as difficult as any character. For Shahid Azmi there is no real video available on the net. There are only two pictures. We wove the story around with a lot of imagination.
• "I spent time with his family and his brothers. They were very supportive. His brother has seen the film and is very proud of it and thinks that it is 95 per cent of how Shahid lived his life," says Yadav.
• Mehta, who is returning to filmmaking after a break with this film has clearly made a strong impression on Yadav.
• "He was amazing to work with. I have told him that I am going to work in all his films. He cannot work with anyone else. I am doing his next film now."
• Talking about his upcoming release Kai Po Che, which is based on Chetan Bhagat's novel 'Three Mistakes of My Life', Yadav says he enjoyed playing a Gujarati boy.
• "I liked the novel and I am playing the role of Govind in the film. He is the guy who makes the three mistakes. The film is releasing on February 22.
• "Then I am working with Kangna for a Delhi set rom-com called 'Queen'. It is a very real love story," he says.
• The actor has just finished working on Nair's short film with Richa Chaddha of Gangs of Wasseypur fame. "It is a series of short films combined together. Nair is a superb director. The common theme of the films is religion. The title of Mira's film is God Room, it is set in Mumbai during the Ganpati pooja."
• Yadav's journey to showbiz has been an unusual one. Instead of making his debut with a romantic film, the actor starred in a bold film like Love, Sex Aur Dhoka.
• Recalling how he got the offer, Yadav says, "I came to Mumbai in 2008 and was looking for an opportunity like so many others. I heard that Dibakar was making a small budget film and was looking for newcomers. I met him and gave an audition. He told me to lose weight because I had built up a body by then, having no idea how things worked in showbiz. I was on after that."
• Yadav says acting was something that he wanted to do since his childhood. "I think it was something that I was meant to do. I was an average student and took part in theatres since a very early age. I did theatre in Delhi for three years before moving to Mumbai. I am happy with the way my career has shaped up, it has helped me nurture my acting."
• The actor has started getting offers that come with "lot of money but with bad scripts" but he says he wants to avoid being part of such movies.
• "I have to balance and plan my career. It is not all that difficult to say no. I first look for the story, my character and then director and producer. Your choices make your career so I have to be very careful," he says.