Rajkummar Rao Hopes Newton Brings Him 'International Recognition'

New Delhi: Rajkummar Rao's new release Newton is India's official entry for the coveted Academy Awards 2018 and the 33-year-old actor told news agency PTI that he hopes that film brings him 'international recognition.' The National Award-winning actor said: "I think I am doing something different every time and I want to grow with every film. I hope with Newton, I get more international recognition." Rajkummar plays the titular Newton in the film, which is based on the attempts of an earnest government clerk to conduct a free and fair election in a conflict-hit area of Chhattisgarh. "It is one of the most important films of my career. It was made with a lot of honesty," Rajkummar told PTI.

"It's a double celebration for us. We were happy with the love we are getting for the film and this announcement has added to the celebration. I am busy answering calls, lot of people have called and are happy for us. We would definitely be celebrating this moment but we haven't thought how as of yet," he added.

Watch the trailer of Newton:




Rajkummar Rao was seen in three other non-commercial films this year, all of which were critically acclaimed. The first release was the Vikramaditya Motwane-directed Trapped followed by Behen Hoti Teri with Shruti Haasan and then Bareilly Ki Barfi, co-starring Kriti Sanon and Ayushmann Khurrana. His upcoming line-up films are 5 Weddings, Omerta, Ittefaq, Fanney Khan and a few more.

"The line is blurring between commercial and independent or parallel cinema. The medium doesn't matter to the audience anymore. For them, content is important. They look for good films. The audience and their choices have evolved. They are exposed to international films and TV shows. They are now expecting a certain kind of quality from Indian cinema," said Rajkummar Rao.

At the Oscars, Newton's will compete against Angelina Jolie's Cambodian film First They Killed My Father, Pakistani film Saawan, Sweden's The Square, Germany's In the Fade and Chile's A Fantastic Woman in the Best Film in Foreign Language category.

(With inputs from PTI)