The one thing that actor Raj Arjun is afraid of is getting stereotyped. And that’s the reason he always chooses different avatars each time he is on the screen. We saw him as a conservative man who is a violent father and husband in Secret Superstar in 2017, as a politician in Kangana Ranaut starrer Thalaivi last year and now he has returned as a cop in Love Hostel. “I have promised to myself that I will not do similar kinds of roles. After Secret Superstar I got a lot of offers with similar kinds of roles. But I politely refused them. In fact, I am so scared of getting stereotypes that I immediately change my look post a film when meeting people,” avers Arjun who plays a cop for the first time on the screen in the Sanya Malhotra- and Vikrant Massey-starrer Love Hostel.
He is also seen reprising the role of Sai Baba, the spiritual master, in a recently-released music video, Sabka Sai, on MX Player, for which he was given the Best Actor Award at ITA 2021.
Theatre excites Raj the most and that’s one of the reasons he got on board Tadbeer, a teleplay on Zee Theatre. “The moment someone talks about theatre, I get excited. What I am today is because of theatre. And this project was about preserving a good play so I had to be a part of it,” says Raj who plays Darshan, an ex-army officer, in this production that chronicles rackets misguiding the youth.
A big supporter of new talents, Raj has been making headlines in the short film circuit too. In 2021, he was part of many short films and a couple of them has got him international recognition as well. He bagged the Best Actor Award for the Naseeruddin Shah- and Rasika Dugal-starrer The Miniaturist of Junagarh and was nominated in the same category for Pilibhit at the Critic Choice Short Series Award. The actor understands the struggle of a new artiste and is hence even open to doing short films by new filmmakers for free.
His upcoming projects include a bunch of short films, and Farhan Akhtar produced and Ravi Udyawar directed Yudhra which is scheduled to release this year.