Sushant S Rajput - Byomkesh Bakshi- In theaters now - Go see it :) - Page 8

In 2013, a new crop of actors hits the jackpot

As storyline gains prominence over star power, movies featuring little-known actors have delivered the highest return on investment this year

He has just bagged a three-movie deal with one of the most sought-after studios in the Indian film business. But if the amount of money that he has made for his producers this year is anything to go by, it isYash Raj Films that has actually scored a major coup by signing him on.

Sushant Singh Rajput, the Delhi boy who, like Shah Rukh Khan, went to the famed Barry John's drama classes to hone his acting skills, may just be a few films old, but there are plenty of jobs rolling his way. Everyone wants to sign him up and broadcasters are quoting a hefty price to grab the satellite rights to his movies. Soon, he will be essaying the role of the much-loved Bengali sleuth, Byomkesh Bakshi, in a film under the Yash Raj banner. Besides, he will also be seen in Rajkumar Hirani and Shekhar Kapur's (Paani) forthcoming projects.

The reason why Rajput is so coveted is not hard to see. Two of his films- Kai Po Che and Shudh Desi Romance- are among the most profitable films of 2013 based on return on investment. The broadcasting rights for Shudh Desi Romance went for Rs 15 core, which is nearly half the production cost of the film. While still new to Bollywood, Rajput already seems to have crossed the line to stardom. From the Rs 20 lakh that he got as fee for his first film, his asking price now ranges between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 2.5 crore a film.

But he is only one of tomorrow's stars that 2013 has brought into the limelight. As Bollywood embraces a new kind of film that banks on not so known faces and a strong story line rather than star power, many new actors now have a chance to take a shot at stardom. Aditya Roy Kapur (who was trying his luck with non-lead roles since 2009) and Shraddha Kapoor (whose first movie bombed at the box office last year) finally tasted success in Aashiqui 2. Like the storyline, the movie sizzled at the box office, raking in a staggering 224 per cent return on investment. It made Rs 84 crore on an investment of Rs 18 crore. "We never thought it would be such a big hit. We had produced the movie to gain control over good music, which is our mainline business," says Bhushan Kumar, managing director, T-Series, which produced the movie.

In the top league
The movie has catapulted Kapur to the ranks of Bollywood's hottest new stars. He now commands over Rs 1.5 crore for a film. Industry experts say he is also negotiating several endorsement deals at Rs 20-25 lakh for each day of shooting. Aashiqui 2's leading lady, Shraddha Kapoor, has increased her asking price to Rs 75 lakh to Rs 80 lakh. For limited budget movies, that makes her still very saleable- Anoushka Sharma charges Rs 2.5 crore and Sonam Kapoor is not available for less than Rs 1 crore.

Rajput's female protagonist in Shudh Desi Romance, Parineeti Chopra, a business management graduate who made a stir last year with Ishaqzaade, has also managed to break through the ranks and make it to the crore-plus club in Bollywood. According to industry sources, she charges over Rs 1 crore a movie now.

Her connection with the youth has helped her bag a string of endorsements deals from top brands like Nivea, WeChat, a social media messaging company, an undisclosed two-wheeler player, among others. She has also become the first Bollywood star to endorse products from both Coke and PepsiCo at the same time. She endorses Maaza for Coke and Kurkure for Pepsi. It's clear her appeal works for both the beverage giants. Says Neeraj Garg, vice-president (juice business-India and south west Asia) for Coca-Cola: "She is a young achiever and epitomises young Indian go-getters, energetic and wanting to make a difference. She has helped us strengthen Maaza's brand equity and take it to the next level."

Of course, the price factor works as well. These young stars are more affordable than established actors.

A spokesperson from rival PepsiCo says: "We signed Chopra very early on. We recognised her potential and cast as her as part of a new-age family which is modern yet traditional in its values."

Rajput, on the other hand, has become the ambassador for two brands, Garnier Men and PepsiCo. Says Ashish Patel, vice-president (youth films, brand partnerships, talent management) in Yash Raj Films, which manages him: "Both the brands he has taken up are known to sign on popular stars. In fact this is the first time that L'Oreal has picked up a new face for such a high-decibel campaign. This shows the confidence he is inspiring in brands."

Reasonable price tags have certainly helped these actors. Shraddha Kapoor has bagged Vaseline and an undisclosed Deo brand. Industry experts say she charges Rs 10 lakh per day of shooting. If Shraddha's forthcoming films with Akshay Kumar (Gabbar) and with Shahid Kapur (Haidar) make it big, she will be a steal for advertisers who bet on her early on, say experts.

While new stars have made their mark, not everyone agrees the days of the old guard are over. "Every 10 to 12 years Bollywood undergoes a change of generation. That is what happened in 2013. New talent has now emerged with the successes that they have delivered, a power shift will happen. This, of course, does not mean the superstars will go into oblivion," says film trade analyst Komal Nahata.

The actor is playing a pivotal role in Dibakar Banerjee's Byomkesh Bakshi

Anindya Banerjee can't stop thanking his stars. After all, the actor is playing a pivotal role in Dibakar Banerjee's Byomkesh Bakshi. "I play one of the main villains and it is not a blink-and-miss role, as I will be shooting for 15 days in Mumbai and Kolkata. It's not like my role of a taxi driver in Kahaani, which was very small. They auditioned me for three roles and then selected me for Profulla's character. They gave me a three-page script and told me to act. To my utter surprise, they appreciated my acting so much that I am all nerves now, as their expectations must have doubled," said Anindya.

For actors, interviews are an occupational hazard. Most detest speaking to journalists, who are digging for headlines, throwing intrusive questions at them, dissecting their love lives and forever misquoting them. The longer they are in the industry, the better they become at churning out manufactured responses to the repetitive questions. Some are diplomatic, some brash and some don't give interviews at all. But actor Sushant Singh Rajput's take on interviews is interesting. He is terrified by them.

The actor, who has been widely appreciated for his earnest and uninhibited performances in both his films, Kai Po Che and Shuddh Desi Romance, panics at the thought of speaking to yet another journalist. "I feel very weird," says Rajput. "I have given about 250 interviews till now, and after half a dozen of them, there is nothing much to talk about myself. How can I go on and on in a different way each time?" As we wrap up our chat at Yash Raj Films studio, he blames me for making him speak a lot and leaving him with nothing to tell the journalist waiting next. "It is a very simple thing. As much as I want to excel in a role I play, I want to be interested in an interview, too," he says. To be interested, he adds, one has to be authentic and, to be authentic, one has to have opinions, experience and knowledge. "Arrey, I have just started out. Maybe with time, I will open up," he says.

This comes from the actor who is touted to be the next big thing' with an impressive list of projects in hand, from Rajkumar Hirani's Peekay, for which he has just finished shooting, Dibakar Banerjee's Byomkesh Bakshi, in which he recreates the iconic Bengali detective, to Shekhar Kapur's Paani, for which he has to lose weight. But once you start talking to him, you realise he is just shy, neither arrogant nor snobbish. "Why do people find it difficult to accept that an actor can be shy?" he asks. Probably because the characters he has played were both outspoken. "I have always been like this. I have kept to myself and I find it really difficult to express myself. That is why I took to performing, so that I can hide behind all these interesting characters," he says.

Born in Patna and raised in Delhi in a middle-class family, Rajput is the youngest of five siblings. "I lost my mother at an early age, so I was pampered and grew up in a secure atmosphere," he says. "I never interacted with anyone outside my family until very late and had very few friends."

This changed when he went to Delhi College of Engineering, armed with a seventh rank in the All India engineering entrance exam and a Government of India scholarship. But on reaching the campus, he was disappointed. "There were hardly any girls in our class," he says. He joined Shiamak Davar's institute to learn dance. What started out as just another outing to ogle girls soon turned into a life-altering obsession. On Davar's insistence, Rajput took classes from theatre director Barry John, who has trained actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Manoj Bajpayee. "When I did theatre, I saw the kind of effect my performance was having on audiences," he says. "It was for the first time in my life that I was able to hold someone's attention. I felt powerful and I instantly knew this was what I had to do in life."

Rajput, who discontinued his studies in his sixth semester, regrets having taken up the engineering seat. "I still feel that I could have saved that seat for someone who really wanted to become an engineer," he says. His studies, however, came in handy during his theatre days in Delhi, when he started giving classes to those appearing for board exams to add to the money his sister used to give him every month. "It has also instilled in me a sort of discipline that helps me in whatever I do," he says.

He prefers to take a two-month prep break before every project to get under the skin of his characters. "I don't know whether there is any other method to it," he says. "To play a character, you have to understand him and that is a process. You do a lot of research, you read the script again and again to find clues, and you figure out the similarities and dissimilarities between you and the character." What is most important, he says, is to break your thinking pattern and come back to a clean slate after every project. "I call it a binary state," he says. "You are somewhere between yourself and the characters you are playing. So I try to transform myself into the character. When that happens, then it is not acting anymore. Be it in KPC or SDR, I was just being. I think that is the honest approach. I cannot fake it in front of the camera, it shows." Agrees his co-star Parineeti Chopra: "He is so well-rehearsed, yet so spontaneous. Working with him is so easy because he is always fully prepared for the scene."

This approach, however, has been a nightmare for his live-in girlfriend, TV actor Ankita Lokhande. "She would call me up when I am shooting and would be surprised by the way I talk to her," says Rajput. "For instance, when I was shooting for SDR, she would constantly ask me, Why are you talking like this?' Then, I would realise that I was talking like Raghu, not myself. So I deliberately try and bring back my so-called real self." Not surprising, considering Rajput idolises British actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who takes a break of five to six years between two films and is known for his crazy method acting. "I am not that extreme," he says. "But when you are working with directors like Dibakar, who once told me, Please don't act like Byomkesh in my film, just be him', it is important that you match up to their expectations."

But has the line between him and his characters ever blurred? "Every time, yaar. So much so that it is scary," he says. "Maanav [in the Balaji soap Pavitra Rishta] is my longest running character. When I sit back and think now, I don't know whether I was Sushant or Maanav then. I have got confused so many times whether it is me or the character. Am I playing the character or is the character living through me?"

But that is what keeps him going"the sheer excitement of being able to live the lives of different people every six months. "That is why I quit television," says Rajput, who walked out of his popular TV show at its peak. "After a certain point, I felt stagnated. I was not learning anything from it. I do not think acting in films is superior to acting in TV or plays. I am equally passionate about every project as I was when I did my first play."

Even while critics like Rajeev Masand appreciate his "indescribable screen presence", Banerjee calls him the actor among stars and Kapur says he is the most inspiring young actor of today, Rajput makes sure that he has his feet firmly on the ground. "I have worked really hard to get where I am today," he says. "Be it KPC, SDR, Peekay, Byomkesh or Paani, I have bagged all these roles through auditions. If Shekhar Kapur, who last worked with Heath Ledger, has seen something in me, then shouldn't I at least have half that faith in myself and put in my best?"

Rajput is happy that he is now being taken seriously as an actor and has at least tried to bust the myth that TV actors cannot act. But isn't the audience more attached to TV actors, whom they watch on a daily basis? "No, they are more attached to the character," he says. "They love Maanav and they do not see the person playing him. But here [in films] you are playing different characters. You are known as Sushant Singh Rajput; you are a personality." Despite all the appreciation and good work he is getting, no amount of prep has made it easy for Rajput to play the most difficult character, that of a Bollywood star. "Living the life of an actor here," he says, "requires a lot of acting."