New Baddie on the Block

As fate would have it,he was christened Bollywood’s newest baddie and soon bagged roles as the antagonist in Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap and Singham. The success of these two films made him more popular with the masses and filmmakers here,and in a period of three months he has bagged as many as four offers—Dabangg 2,Satte Pe Satta remake,Traffic and Neeraj Pathak’s next with Sunny Deol. There is also Ghayal Returns,which he is yet to sign. Ask him about his rise as the Bollywood villain and he modestly responds,“It is nice to be wanted,trusted and loved. It increases your self-belief and self-esteem.”

Like most South Indian actors,who try their hand at Hindi films,language has always been a major hiccup. However,Raj dismisses it by saying: “Cinema has no language. It speaks a universal tongue. All I need to have is the passion to act and a basic understanding of the role I am portraying. Everything else can be managed.”

Although new to Bollywood,Raj started his career way back in the early ‘90s,playing character-driven roles in Kannada television serials. He later took up supporting roles in Kannada films such as Raamachari,Nishkarsha and Lockup Death. Even though these films got him noticed for his dialogue delivery and histrionics,they failed to give him the big break in Kannada films.

He got his first major role in 1994 in the K Balachander directed-film Duet. “I wasn’t keen on playing lead roles. My criteria was to select a role which let me put my acting abilities to test,” says the award-winning actor. However,it was the 1997 biopic Iruvar,directed by Mani Ratnam,which won him the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. This also made him a household name with the Tamil cine-goers. His success streak continued with Tamil,Telugu and Kannada movies such as Khadgam,Anathpuram,Sivakasi,Ghilli,Naanu Nanna Kanasu and Kanchivaram. These films were instrumental in winning him five National Awards and more than 30 state awards.

The veteran actor wishes to do more intense roles in Bollywood. “I want to do comic roles and character-driven roles. But right now since formula films are working,I am getting a lot of negative roles.” He looks up to Amrish Puri and Amjad Khan as the greatest villains.

With a lot happening for him in Bollywood,one would definitely expect him to shift base to Mumbai. But the actor does not think it is necessary. “I am anyway a nomad. I function from my three offices in Banaglore,Chennai and Hyderabad,and my home in Mumbai. It keeps me active and happy,” he says. Raj will next be in Mumbai in December to start work on Pathak’s film,followed by Traffic. Satte Pe Satta remake and Dabangg 2 will take off in February and March respectively. Meanwhile,he is busy shooting his bilingual directorial venture and scouting locations for his next film. He has also signed three more Telugu films as an actor and he is building a home in Pondicherry. “There is no dearth of time in this world,so I like to pack in as many things as possible in my lifetime,” he smiles.