Mumbai, Sept 27: As Jaraj Saxena, a former star down on his luck in “Ba***ds of Bollywood”, actor Rajat Bedi says he was reliving his own struggle of not getting work in the film industry for years but he never imagined that he would have such a comeback.
The Aryan Khan-directed show marks Bedi’s return to showbiz after two decades. The actor is best known for “Koi Mil Gaya” and “Jaani Dushman”. His last released movie was 2007’s “Partner”, which featured Salman Khan and Govinda.
“I’m very, very grateful to the Khan family for considering me and getting me into the show, especially building this character around my original life. I’m overwhelmed that it has been received so well. The whole audience is saying, ‘What a comeback! Shah Rukh Khan has got you back’,” Bedi told PTI in an interview.
The actor, who began his career as an assistant on Shah Rukh’s 1995 movie, “Zamaana Deewana”, said Jaraj is a favourite character for not just Aryan but also Suhana, Gauri Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.
He is now looking forward to be back as Jaraj in season two of “Ba***ds of Bollywood”.
“I know they want to see more of me. And you will get to see more of Jaraj Saxena in season two. The writing is going on, that will come with a bigger bang. It will happen sometime next year. It will be very exciting.”
After the show’s premiere on Netflix, Bedi’s IMDb ranking skyrocketed to the ninth place on the top ten list of most popular Indian stars from 954.
“Life is looking beautiful. If you ask, ‘Is there a line-up of work?’, I would say, ‘No, I’m still waiting for those calls to come’. But some big producers are considering me for their projects, but till it’s not done, it’s not done.
“I’m excited now that at least people will look at me optimistically thinking I’ve done good work, and I was part of a big project. I want to do things and be relevant and live up to people’s expectations now. I’m being loved and appreciated a lot. I’m thinking, what now? I don’t want this time to go away,” Bedi, who moved back to Mumbai about two years ago from Canada with his family, said.
Bedi said a poured in his own pain to flesh out Jaraj Saxena’s character in the show and he has received calls of appreciation from fellow actors from the industry, including Harhvardhan Rane, Angad Bedi.
“People have connected to that pain, and have appreciated it. There are some actors who messaged me because what I’ve gone through, a lot of actors are going through. They are wanting a film to break through to move forward, and they’re seeing that Rajat has stayed patient even though he didn’t get work for 15-20 years in Bollywood. They’re like we can also do it,” the actor said.
Citing the example of one of the scenes from the show where Bedi talks about his struggle of not getting work in the industry despite approaching many people, he simply said: “It has happened a lot of times.”
He met director Rakesh Roshan, casting directors Mukesh Chhabra, Abhishek Banerjee and gave numerous screen tests but nothing materialised.
Bedi recalls meeting Salman Khan while the superstar was shooting for the 2021 film “Radhe” and sought his help to get work.
“For ‘Radhe’ they called me for a role through Prabhu Deva sir at Mehboob Studio. Salman bhai was there, and he was like, ‘You’re not going to do this one as it is not an appropriate role for you’. I was heartbroken.
“I was like, ‘Sir, I’m getting a film to do with you and you’re saying ‘I’ll give you something better, wait’. I said, ‘Okay, I’m waiting to work with bhai again’.”
Bedi has some good memories too of his time in the industry, especially collaborating with David Dhawan on three films like “Jodi No.1”, “Chor Machaaye Shor”, and “Partner”.
It was during his time in Canada that Bedi received a life-changing phone call for “Ba***ds of Bollywood”, and the message was clear: Aryan wanted to meet you to discuss a role.
“I was like, are you sure? Here I go to the industry and ask for work but I don’t get it. Here’s somebody who’s looking for me, and that too SRK’s son. It was a blessing in disguise. I was like, ‘I will not let this (opportunity) go away, don’t care if I get a small or a big character. It’s his debut so it’s going to be historic.”
He said he gave his nod to the show but on one condition: his son, Vivaan, will work as an assistant director on the show.
“The beauty was that Aryan had so much faith in me. He gave me a free hand. Like, he would give me a scene and say, ‘See how you feel’. Then I would tell Aryan, ‘I’ll do this and that’, and he would be happy.” (PTI)
