When his upcoming film Srikanth was first offered to him, Rajkummar Rao felt daunted by the challenge of portraying a visually-impaired character. In a recent interview with Film Companion’s editor-in-chief Anupama Chopra, the actor spoke in detail about his preparation for the role, from spending extended amounts of time with blind people in order to understand them and stay away from stereotypical caricatures, to immersing himself into the character of Srikanth for every moment he was on set. “I told myself that I can’t see anything,” said Rao about his brand of method acting. “If I fall, I fall. On set, people were helping me get from point A to point B.” With three more highly-anticipated releases lined up for this year — Mr. and Mrs. Mahi, Stree 2 and Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video — Rao is the man of the moment.
However, the reason he’s gone viral in recent times is not his prodigious acting talent, but a photo taken of him at singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s concert in Mumbai. The actor looked unrecognisable in the image, earning Rao monikers like “Mr. Chin-credible” and an unfortunate entry into meme culture. For his part, Rao has taken it in his stride and in conversation with Film Companion, he quipped, “I’m the kind of person who can keep my chin up.”