Big screen beckons - An article

Handsome Rajeev Khandelwal has begun his innings on the big screen with UTV's Aamir, a small budget film which ironically does not have any heroine. Rajeev is excited that after the initial hiccups, his journey in Bollywood has actually taken off.

"I play the lead in Aamir. The film has been directed by new comer Raj Kumar Gupta who is yet another brilliant director like Raj Kumar Santoshi or Raj Kumar Hirani," says Rajeev. How was acting in a film different from his serials? "The first thing that I had to do when I decided to do the film was to change my attitude. Though there was not much difference in terms of performance, understanding the director's language was a bit of a challenge. One whole sequence is often okayed in the first take itself in serials whereas, in the film, I did not even know where the camera was placed and which lens was used. I was a student ready to learn on the sets."

Talking about Raj Kumar Gupta, Rajeev says. "Raj has his own distinct body language. In fact, you can easily make out whether the shot was right or not by just looking at him. In recent times, I think he is the most unassuming director that I have ever seen." Rajeev adds. "I had begun my career not as an actor but as the director of documentaries and hence I know what the director wants. Never once did Raj say that I had given a bad take. He used to tell me, "This take was okay, but I think you can do better." On the sets, Rajeev was trying to learn right from the spot boy to the director. "I may have been the biggest paid actor on television, but I have been paid peanuts for Aamir. If this film is able to generate a profit around 20 crores, I would not hesitate to up my fees but I am not the kind of actor who would raise his fee just because it is considered cool," he says.

Rajeev denies any rumours that he had walked out of a serial due to payment issues. "When you are at the peak of your career, you can afford to hike your price but I left the serial due to creative issues. Money has never been my priority. Believe it or not, I had told the producer that I will slash my prices to half if the director is ready to make my role more creative before I left the serial." Rajeev adds, "It is just not easy to say no to eight lakhs a month. I stopped accepting offers to work in TV serials for the simple reason that I did not want to do the same old stuff over and over again." Rajeev, however, dismisses any link-up with his co-stars. He says, "Aamna Shareef is not my girl friend but a good friend of mine. When I say good friend, I mean it literally."

Maharaja Features

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https://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun152008/sundayherald20 08061473487.asp