6 things about Rajkummar Rao's road to fame that you need to know about, from his Boogie woogie audition to meeting his idol

Rajkummar Rao is an actor par excellence and has a versatile track record to prove it. The actor who is busy writing new rules to stardom in Bollywood, prefers to keep his private life private but has time and again spoke about his life outside the movies and his humble beginnings. From being trained in martial arts to his attempt at cracking the Boogie Woogie audition once, here are a few things about Rajkummar Rao’s life before becoming a star you might be unaware about as he turns 37.

Background in theatre

The Badhaai Do actor hails from Gurgaon where he completed his school and went on to study at the University of Delhi where he joined a theatre group. Rajkummar Rao always wanted to be an actor and later went onto join a film course in FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) in Pune. He came to Mumbai in 2008 to start out his journey as an actor and finally kicked off his career with the 2010 film Love, Sex Aur Dhokha.

Inspiration

Rajkummar Rao is a bonafide Shah Rukh Khan fan like many actors of the new generation and had once revealed he was inspired by the superstar in his years growing up to take up acting. He had told Humans of Bombay once, “It wasn’t rosy though––I didn’t get a lot of work after I came to Mumbai. I only managed small ads here and there. Things you won’t even recollect––I’d be like the 10th person standing in some ad! I made about Rs. 10,000 a month––but still, there were days where I didn’t have money, and I’d call my friends asking to share their meal.”