'I want to fly like a bird, don't want to be caged'

Known for films like Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana and Mastram, actor Rahul Bagga is out with his new film, Tera Mera Tedha Medha directed by Chittaranjan Tripathy. Revolving around planetary dispositions in the character’s life (Rajan Jha) played by Bagga, hilarious twists lead to funny situations. “It’s a total entertainer with a good combination of actors. I play the character of a small-town man named Rajan Jha who studies in Delhi and faces compatibility issues when he gets into a relationship with a girl (played by Geetika Tyagi). When one gets into a relationship, the priorities change and that forms a part of the narrative,” Bagga tells Metrolife. 

He frankly puts it that opting for varied roles is not by choice. “As an actor, I am not in a position to choose a director. Most importantly, I try to address the intention of the filmmaker. A director need not be in the top five or top 10, but he should be willing to experiment and give a good push to the narrative. I don’t have issues working with debut directors as long as they have a script that appeals to me. It solely depends on how the director visualises and executes the film.” 

With his footing in theatre, television and films, Bagga emphasises that the number of years in theatre does not matter when it comes to the Hindi film industry.

Describing his journey, he says, “Most people, like me, come from middle class backgrounds and from outside Mumbai and for them, the first attraction is the Hindi film industry.”

He adds, “I was very shy as a person. In fact, I never performed in front of relatives. It just happened that I started theatre with sheer fluke. The economics involved in theatre made me move to Mumbai but I did theatre for quite a long time, around eight years. I took maximum time doing theatre as I enjoyed it. But in Mumbai, it does not matter how much background you have in theatre, you have to keep on proving yourself.”

With the film scheduled to release on September 11, he shares that it was a good experience to work with co-actors Rajesh Sharma, Neeraj Sood and Geetika Tyagi among others.

On where he sees himself in the next five years, he tells Metrolife, “I want to fly like a bird. I don’t want to be caged. I want to do the best as the quality of work is what matters and it should be good.”