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Posted: 18 years ago

'It was either SRK or me'

Rajesh Khattar was Shah Rukh Khan's buddy in college. Now, years later, he's acting with him in Don

NICOLE DASTUR

A common friend introduced the badshah of Bollywood and Rajesh Khattar in Delhi's Hans Raj college. With both sharing a passion for acting, the two bonded over theatre in their college days. "We were known as the only two theatre actors who had cars then," laughs Rajesh, continuing, "And more often than not, either Shah Rukh or I would get the lead role." But their similar life graph continued even after their college days. "It's funny, but both of us landed in Mumbai around the same time, just a month apart. And we both started our television careers also at approximately the same time," says Rajesh, who has now acted with SRK in his upcoming film Don. "But as a human being, Shah Rukh has not changed at all. He's an international superstar, but he has no starry airs. He's the same Shah Rukh I knew in college," muses Rajesh.
Hoping that Farhan Akhtar's blockbuster will be his big breakthrough, Rajesh is quite upbeat about having worked with Farhan. "He's the hallmark of a good director — chilled out, giving actors their space, and yet, he's so clear about what he wants. It was a fantastic experience working with him." So is he planning to ditch the small screen for bigger offers? "Not really. I'm keeping my hands full with all kinds of work right now. But it's my negative role of Parvatlal Singh in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi that I'm really proud of. People loved to hate me, so I guess I must have done a good job," laughs Rajesh. Relating an incident that happened at Himesh Reshammiya's recent USA concert, which he was compering, Rajesh says, "People got to see another side to me here. I was cracking jokes, cheering on the crowd and was not a dark character. The concert changed my image from a bad guy to a good guy," laughs Rajesh.
Not many know that dubbing for Hollywood films keeps Rajesh creatively busy (he's dubbed for over 80 films including Johnny Depp's voice in Pirates of the Caribbean and Tom Hanks' voice in Da Vinci Code). "It's a complex, technical job; getting the lip-syncing right is quite a task," says Rajesh.
Veer into his personal life and his relationship with theatre director-cum-television actor Vandana Sajnani, and Rajesh says, "Well, yes, she is my girlfriend." So, are they planning to tie the knot anytime soon? "I guess marriage plans will follow. Right now, we're both taking each day as it comes," says Rajesh.