“Leave my face, I want to be an actor” critically acclaimed actor Rajkummar Rao had to ask 25 college boys that were thrashing him. On August 31, Rajkummar Rao celebrates his 37th birthday. The “Trapped”, “Omerta”, & “Stree”, actor has become movie critic’s darling and a role model for every Bollywood aspirant. On his birthday, let’s revisit a famous anecdote from his teenage life which shows us the commitment he had for his dream of becoming an actor.

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Rajkummar Rao is the epitome of an actor slowly but surely climbing the rungs of stardom by patience, perseverance and persistence. His first film – Love, Sex Aur Dhoka showed his intent of choosing an interesting and new script and not following the league of similar actors doing the same kinds of films. He went on to star in Anurag Kashyap’s opus Gangs of Wasseypur – 2 and over the course of the last few years, gave some wonderful films such as Queen, Shahid, Newton and more.

With a face that’s arguably best suited for meek boy-next-door characters, Rao in his real life was an aggressive and combative teenager. So much so that he was once on the verge of being beaten up really bad by almost 25 men. Here’s the story.


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“I was like any other Gurgaon boy”: Rao on his School Days

Reminiscing his yesteryears fondly, the actor shared an interesting anecdote in an episode of East India Comedy’s interview show called EIC VS Bollywood. “I was like any other Gurgaon Boy”, Rao shared. “In school life you have a girl, who you’ve never proposed, never even spoken to, but for us, if my friend likes that girl, she’s my ‘sister-in-law’,” Rao shared.

“You know I would be involved in fights. Like a lot of fights. I was kind of of a goon in my school and neighbourhood,” Rao told, giving an interesting glimpse into how he was as a school student. “I was a brave heart,” he further added.

Rajkumar Rao


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Rajkummar Rao – Shahrukh Khan – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – The Strange Connection

Rao shared how in class 11th he became passionate about becoming an actor, and hence, stopped picking up fights to “save his face”. The same year, he moved to the Blue Bells school, something he claimed to be “really modern & fancy”. Over there, he saw a girl playing basketball that reminded him of ‘Anjali’ from Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’.

Dating ‘Anjali’ Who Already Had an ‘Aman’

Considering himself to be the ‘Rahul’ in the situation, Rao considered that he finally found his ‘Anjali’. But there was a twist in the story as his love interest was already with ‘Aman’. “Somehow we started dating but she had a boyfriend”, Rao recalled with a sheepish smile on his face, as he imitated Shahrukh Khan while narrating his story.


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Being Beaten by 25 Boys, Asking Them to Spare Face

“Of course, they came to thrash me. Some 25 boys from college. By that time I was a saint guy. I was like ‘No more fighting. This is enough. I have to be an actor’. And I was outside a mother dairy and they were thrashing me, some 25 boys are like ‘Get the gun, get the gun’,” Rao told, giving a glimpse into how close he got to a mishap.

Rajkumar Rao

“And I was sitting like this (gesturing curled up like a fetus). My two friends were like, ‘Don’t hit him, hit me if you want’. Meanwhile the only thing I kept screaming, and trust me, this is a true story, ‘Don’t hit my face, I want to be an actor,’” Rao said as the crowd remained surprised and stunned by the revelation.

Well, we are glad Rajkummar stopped picking up fights and took care of himself. How else would we have gotten Filmfare Critics Award Winner, and Asia Pacific Screen Awards best actor. On his birthday, we wish the actor more such success.