When Gajraj Rao's wife told him, 'Aap Ranveer ya Ranbir nahin ho'

Radhika Bhirani

rbhirani@gmail.com

"Baap baap hota hai!" But even they have shades.

Gajraj Rao has brought them alive distinctly and distinctively through such big screen outings as Badhaai Ho and Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan, and web offerings Bang Baaja Baaraat, F.A.T.H.E.R.S. and Tech Conversations With Dad, in the recent past. It won't be an exaggeration to say that he has emerged as new-age Bollywood's beloved 'baap'. But did you know he had his reservations about taking on a father's role initially?

Rao has had a varied repertoire in the world of media and entertainment. If theatre and films gave him a chance to satiate the performer in him, his creative juices as a storyteller also found a vent through his advertising company Code Red Films.

As an actor, he has dabbled in films ranging from Bandit Queen, Dil Se.. and Yahaan to Black Friday, Talvar and Blackmail, essaying myriad roles. But it was the 2018 entertainer Badhaai Ho, which became his big ticket to mainstream popularity.

It was not just his casting in the role of a modest railway ticket collector Jeetendra Kaushik, one half of a middle-aged, middle-class couple that unexpectedly ends up expecting a child and lands up in a socially awkward spot, that did the trick. Rao's performance allowed director Amit Sharma to explore, and the audience to enjoy, that certain quirkiness and endearment that comes with the real life persona of the actor. And that became a a turning point for him.

In a short, but sweet chat with me when he was in Delhi before the release of Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan -- where he essayed a parochial and homophobic, but weirdly funny father Shankar Tripathi -- Rao recounted that he had indeed wrestled an apprehension about being an on-screen papa to Ayushmann Khurrana when he was offered Badhaai Ho.

"When I was in talks for Badhaai Ho, I had told my wife 'Aise aise role hai, Ayushmann ke father ka role hai... Ye (character) na chipak jaayega! So my wife told me, 'Aap Ranveer Singh ya Ranbir Kapoor nahi ho ki aap pareshan ho rahe ho ki karun ya na karun... Kar lo'. It was as simple as that," shared Rao, adding that getting caught in a stereotype -- Bollywood's favourite trope -- was never on his wishlist.

Naturally, as one would have expected, Rao was flooded with a flurry of offers to toy with more daddy roles on screen.

"I knew agar main Badhaai Ho jaisi teen filmein karunga tab mazaa nahi aayega. And I have refused such films also... But Jeetendra Kaushik and Shankar Tripathi mein zameen aasmaan ka farak hai. Woh bhi dad thha, ye bhi dad hai, but the ecosystem is very different. As long as I get interesting parts, usmein mujhe koi problem nahi hai. Dad hai, but along with that, he should be a lawyer, doctor or peon with conflict. He could also be a Lala with conflict... but not just a dad who keeps smiling," he said, his understated smile working its magic again.

And while he believes the onus of making one character look different from another lies largely upon an actor, he also pointed out how the actor-director relationship in cinema is symbiotic to the brink of translating into either magnetism, or falling flat on the big screen. He drew up an innovative analogy.

"I feel actors are like people blindfolded in a tunnel. They need some guidance to be navigated. And it depends on a director how to navigate the actor through that tunnel," said Rao, who was directed in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan by newcomer Hitesh Kewalya. In his opinion, Kewalya was a "very good guide" who didn't depend on his actors and did not lose sight of what he wanted to do, merely for the respect he had for the actors.

"If he wanted four takes, he ensured they happened. Ziddi thha, but that's good, because then as actors you start depending on the director thinking, 'Ki yeh karaa lega scene. Ye gadbad nahi hone dega, kharaab take nahi hone dega'. That assurance has to come to an actor from every director," he said in his engaging, conversational style.

So while "surrendering unconditionally" is one way of working fruitfully with a director, another, Rao said, is to constantly try and understand if the person behind the camera is looking for something unique.

Doesn't that create self-doubt as an actor?

"It depends," Rao said before pausing, and adding, "On the director."

"When Amit (Badhaai Ho director Amit Sharma) was not convinced with a take or dialogue delivery, he would keep doing it, but not monotonously ki 'Aur karo, aur karo, kuch ho jaayega'. He guided us. He specified and elaborated what he wanted. He gave cues, and so I knew he was actually looking for something which I was not able to deliver." 

And so, for Rao, there are parameters that define a good director.

"A good director gives you cues and guides you, not the one who judges you. A good director tries to collaborate with you. There are films where you know the director doesn't understand the ethos, depth of the film, the concept or the character and he just says things to impress himself or someone else....  I've luckily worked with ace directors, whether they are first-timers or they are names such as Shekhar Kapur, Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap or Meghna Gulzar, so I have not had this experience. But I have seen it happen on others' shoots where director ko samajh nahi aa raha hai aur takes pe takes liye jaa raha hai," said the actor.

As much as there is 'apnapan' in the roles we have seen him in, Rao also comes across as a person with a knack for making conversations easy and breezy, no matter the person sitting opposite him may be 20 years younger. Establishing that connect and building upon it is something that he takes "very seriously".

"Aap Radhika, say born in 1980s, aap kaisi zindagi jeete hain, mujhe usmein meri curiosity hai. I can't be like, 'Aap dus saal chhote ho, chalo baith jao...' That would mean I am alienating you and I don't know what is happening in your age group. I can't let that happen," shared the actor, who believes his show Tech Conversation with Dad, a laughter-evoking series about a young man who explains latest technologies to his technologically challenged father, was a game changer in this aspect for him.

It connected him to a huge young crowd, also making him realise the reservoir of power that lies in the deadly mix of good content and the online medium.

Next up, we will see Rao in Lootcase, a Hindi comedy thriller which was meant to release in theatres, but is among a bouquet of films slated to reach audiences through streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic impact. 

And no, he's not playing a dad!