Exclusive! Ek Duaa’s Rajveer Ankur Singh: I would really love to work with Raju Hirani

Being an actor is not as easy as it looks on screen. It's like the jack of all trades and master of none as sometimes you play a doctor or a horse rider and at other times, you play some other profession, says the actor Rajveer Ankur Singh. The actor who started his career with Rahul Dahiya’s G Kutta Se, an internationally-acclaimed film, recently worked opposite Esha Deol in a short film titled Ek Duaa on Voot Select. The film revolves around a lower middle class family and tries to address the gender inequalities in a family. In a candid chat with OTTplay, Rajveer talks about Ek Duaa, his views on OTT censorship, his upcoming projects and more. Excerpts:

Talking about how he landed a role in Ek Duaa, Rajveer says, “Post my first film, while I was working as a model, I did not find any film projects that interested me much. A year ago, Ram Kal Mukerjee called me and asked to do a film. He said it’s not a big feature film but a digital film, and narrated the story. I really liked it as it also had a social message. I connected with the story instantly as I also have a six-year-old daughter. So, I agreed.”

The actor, who has worked in various movies in the South film industry, says in the South, people treated him with immense respect and took care of him on the set. "I’ve had the best time while I was working there. The scripts are great and they are very creative. I’m starting another movie soon titled RDX. It’s my first Kannada movie with Shiva Rajkumar,” he says. Also a theatre artist, Rajveer says the journey of an actor is never easy. "It’s full of ups and downs. You have to know how to become a doctor, a horse rider and every other profession." 

Rajveer started modelling when he was 18-years-old and worked in most of the leading campaigns and wanted to do something that excites him, rather than any big commercial films. "Rahul Dahiya is the first director I worked with, on the film G Kutta Se. He is a phenomenal director. He approached me randomly and when I got to know about my role, I was sold. However, the film got stuck at the censor board for almost a year. The journey's been difficult but beautiful.” His dream role is to play a special agent in films like The Bourne Identity if they make it in India, he adds. Dilip Kumar and Irrfan Khan are his inspirations in Indian cinema. "It’s sad that both of them are not with us anymore. They are my all-time favourite,” he says.

So, what’s your take on the censorship of OTT? “I do not have anything against Ekta Kapoor. She is great but her shows on AltBalaji do not excite me much. There is a lot of content that they create just for the sake of it because the internet is free. But if something gets cut out from a sensible show, say on Netflix, where nudity or violence is required, it doesn’t seem right. There should be creative freedom so that you can express yourself, else there is no point. But yes, there should be some balance too.”

Rajveer aspires to work with his first director Rahul Dahiya and Raju Hirani. He says even though his films are commercial, they still carry some important message. Vikas Bahl is another filmmaker, he would love to collaborate with. He'd also like to work with Kriti Sanon and Yami Gautam in future.

Revealing a little about his upcoming projects, Rajveer shares that in October, he will start working on a Vipul Mehta directorial as an antagonist that has Madhuri Dixit in the lead. “I’m about to work in a Netflix series which is on Alauddin Khalji. The team is ideating on it now,” he signs off.