Raj Arjun: Working with Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna on Dear Comrade Felt Like We Were Family

Raj Arjun who has given memorable performances albeit playing a negative character in films like Secret Superstar, Dear Comrade or Watchman, says he gets bored after repeating a role for a long time and wants to explore his different sides as an actor. Arjun, however, is confident that his upcoming films like Sidharth Malhotra-Kiara Advani starrer Shershaah, Thalaivi and Love Hostel will help him break the typecast of the negative character.

“When I had started my career I didn’t think I’d be doing the same kind of roles, because I have different sides which haven’t been explored yet. After I played a negative role in Secret Superstar, I got offered similar kinds of roles, then I repeated those in several Tamil and Kannada films. So I got bored of doing the same thing over and over again and wanted to try something that people would not have expected out of me. Finally, I got a role in one of the upcoming projects that see me in a completely different light. With Shershaah, Thalaivi and Love Hostel, I do not repeat my characters at all. So I am hopeful people will love these characters as much as they were afraid of the negative ones,” expresses Arjun.

Apart from his Bollywood projects, he also has a Malayalam film Khajuraho Dreams in his bag. Talking of his experience of working in several industries, especially Bollywood and Kollywood, he says that the language barrier has never been an issue although there were times when he had to speak in signs on the sets of his Tamil films like Watchmen and Thaandavam as he couldn’t understand the language. Arjun also explained that there are hardly any cross-industry barriers as artists prefer the quality of work over anything else.

“When I had met Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna for Dear Comrade, I did not feel that I am an actor from Mumbai who has come to Hyderabad to work. It felt like all of us were members of the same family coming from different states. Ultimately, it is cinema that is in everyone’s blood. However, they are very strict with their schedule (laughs), and the audience there treats the release of a big film like a festival,” he said.

Right now the actor is looking forward to Shershaah which is slated for an OTT release on August 12. Talking of how the viewing experience of this grand production would have been completely different in a theatre, he says, “Shershaah is a huge production, and the kind of logistics we had used, be it vehicles, the aircraft or the helicopters for depicting war missions would have given a different kind of a feeling had it been a theatrical release. But when you don’t have that option, you have to make do with whatever you have. Our film was ready a long time back, and it is only until a certain time you can sit on it. After that, you have to release it otherwise the excitement will be gone”.

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