Not afraid to take risks due to fear of failure: Rajkummar Rao

Actor Rajkummar Rao loves all the attention he is getting, and says he is overwhelmed with his increasing number of female fans.

"I like attention. I like female attention as well. It is very overwhelming. I have seen that there is growth in the amount of people who used to like me and it has gone up thanks to the whole of last year," Rajkummar told IANS in an interview.

"It is very encouraging also in a way... People like me, they are appreciating my work and the kind of films that I am doing," he added.

He entered filmdom with an interesting role in 2010 with LSD: Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010) and went on cement his position in the industry with back-to-back powerful performances in films like Kai Po Che! (2013), Shahid (2013), CityLights (2014), Aligarh (2016), Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) and Newton (2017).

For Rajkummar, it is very important to reinvent with each project.

"Otherwise it gets boring. Once you find your comfort zone and you keep working in that comfort zone, after a while it gets very boring. You have to keep evolving and keep growing. And growth only happens when you push yourself," he said.

Last year in particular was good for Rajkummar as his film Newton (2017) became India's official entry to the Oscars — though it could not make it to the final list.

So, does this validation add any pressure while picking projects?

"The offers are more or else same what it was earlier. My process hasn't changed. I was being very selective even when I just started out with LSD (2010) and Ragini MMS (2011). I always tend to choose some unconventional things in life," he said.

The unconventional aspect stands true for his forthcoming project Omertà too. He will be seen bringing the life of a dreaded terrorist alive on the big screen with film directed by Hansal Mehta.

It is based on British-Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh's life. Presented by Swiss Entertainment and Karma Media, and produced by Nahid Khan, the film will be released on 20 April.

"I love taking risks. That is what I do as an actor. I love challenges. I want to push myself as an actor with every film and whenever it is possible I try to do that with all my characters. Omertà (2018) offered me something very unique, something which I have never done earlier in my life.

"It is a story of an evil mind and I wanted to explore that evil genre," he said.

Getting into the psyche of a terrorist was not easy.

"He is somebody I don't connect with. I have no idea about his world. But I have to do it. It is my responsibility as an actor to do it. I started by reading a lot of books on terrorism, different groups and how they function," he said, adding that he is not afraid to take risks due to the fear of failure.