EXCLUSIVE: Rajkummar Rao admits feeling bad when Anurag Kashyap reduced his role in Gangs of Wasseypur, ‘Nobody had money…’

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Right now, Rajkummar Rao is actively promoting the movie “Maalik.” In an exclusive conversation with TopMob, he opened up about different aspects of his life. He also reminisced about how Gangs of Wasseypur initially intended to feature a confrontation between his character and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s. However, the plot evolved, resulting in a significant reduction of his role.

Rajkummar Rao recalls how his parallel role in Gangs of Wasseypur was cut

Rajkummar Rao shared a memory about when Anurag Kashyap approached him for the role in Gangs of Wasseypur. He stated, “Anurag sir contacted me for Gangs of Wasseypur. Originally, it seemed like the story revolved around my character and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s.

Additionally, he shared his enthusiasm about starring in a similar role in Kashyap’s film. Rao disclosed that he and Nawaz visited the real Wasseypur with writer Zeeshan (Zeeshan Qadri) because he was from there. We stayed there for some time, during which I was recording people on my voice recorder to capture the accent and get a feel for the environment. It was very exciting.

On one occasion, when he was engrossed in the sewing project of Ragini MMS, he received a call from Anurag Kashyap, who invited Rao to his office. “A script has come for you,” he said, “but your role in it is rather limited now. Would you like to take a look?” He expressed his desire to work with him, admitting that he didn’t know the extent of the role, but he was willing to do whatever was assigned.

In addition, Rao emphasized that Anurag Kashyap had suggested his name to Hansal Mehta for the movie “Shahid”, which proved to be a groundbreaking role for him.

Rajkummar Rao admits feeling bad as his role was chopped from script

Although Rajkummar acknowledged that it was disappointing when Kashyap told him about his lesser screen time, he admitted, “Indeed, it felt unfair, as I didn’t know the extent of my role reduction. We are all human beings. I felt a bit let down because we traveled on a train for three days to reach there and even returned by train. Nobody had money. However, I was okay with it as long as I was getting work.” In summary, he said.

I must admit, I wasn’t fully aware of the extent of the impact (my actions might have had). After all, we’re all just humans. The journey to our destination took us three days by train, and we returned the same way. We were short on cash, but that didn’t seem to matter much as long as I was getting the opportunity for work.

Rao’s next Maalik is releasing in cinemas on July 11th. 

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2025-07-10 21:07