'It was a nightmarish experience'

Determined Actor

The commitment and determination of actor Rajeev Pillai, the star batsman of Kerala Strikers, shone through during the recent match between his team and Telugu Warriors. Despite an injury, he single-handedly ensured that his team sailed through.

It is also this confidence that saw him through the spot-fixing fiasco, involving cricketer S Sreesanth, where Rajeev’s name too popped up a couple of times. “The media went berserk and indulged in unnecessary speculation. But time cleared the misconceptions and I’ve moved on. I think even Sreesanth has moved on. Knowing him, I am sure he will come clean and return to his passion — cricket,” says Rajeev.

Rajeev confesses that he went through hell during the spot-fixing fiasco, “Sreesanth is a distant relative and we meet quite regularly. I was with him at one of our meetings when the news began to spread. I just got sucked into the whole thing. It is unimaginable how false information gets lapped up so fast. It was a nightmarish experience,” he confesses. 

Rajeev had his share on success on the ramp and has walked for some of the top designers at ‘Lakme India Fashion Week’ (three editions), the ‘Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week’ and the ‘Couture Week’ before he took to the big screen.

In addition to regularly appearing in Malayalam movies, Rajeev has acted in Tamil and Hindi films. His dark character in Thalaivaa was much appreciated. He has now signed Guru Dakshina, a Hindi film opposite Girish Karnad, where he has a substantial role. “The director said that he had a character like me in mind for the role. I found it quite different from the roles that I’ve done before,” he adds.

He also has a couple of offers in Tamil and Hindi, “I don’t want to rush into anything and sign too many films. I would like to take one project at a time,” he confides.

Rajeev thinks it is never too late to do the things that one really wants to. This is no surprise coming from him because he dropped out of a course in the University of London to chase his passion — cinema.