Rajkummar Rao

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Rajkummar Rao wanted to be astronaut and travel into space

As a child in school, Rajkummar Rao dreamt of becoming an astronaut and travel into space but he was such a prankster in school that he was most of the time outside the classroom for his mischief.

Hence he was weak in studies therefore his dream could not be satisfied.

Rajkummar performed Aamir Khan’s Gulam film stunt of running in front of train, in reality!

He was an avid lover of films since childhood. He would watch Bollywood masala movies and was literally crazy about films. After watching films, he would imitate the heroes in front of friends and relatives.

After he saw Amitabh Bachchan in Agneepath (1990) he was so obsessed by Bachchan mania that he talked, walked and behaved like Vijay Dinanath Chavan for a week.

After he saw Shah Rukh Khan in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) he went behind girls and wished girls and addressed himself as Raj.

The height of Rajkummar’s craziness for cinema can be gauged from the fact that after watching Aamir Khan, running in front of the train in the film Gulam (1998), Rajkummar, attempted the same feat at a deserted rail track in his Gurgaon with his friends! He was just 14 year old then.

In an interview, Rajkummar confided that all his friends were frightened but he infused energy in them saying that if Aamir Khan can do then even they should do it. Thus they really performed the stunt and jumped off the track at last movement!  

Rajkummar Rao and Patralekha are very much in relationship

Rajkummar Rao met actress Patralekha during the making of director Hansal Mehta's Hindi film CityLights (2014).

The two were attracted and shared a common notion about life and cinema. They have been dating since then. They believed they need to get firmly settled in life before taking the important decision of marriage.

Recently there were rumors of their break-up but both have rubbished them as gossip. They are happy and going steady. 

After graduating from the FTII in 2008, Rao spent the next year visiting studios and meeting casting directors. He made a small, uncredited appearance as a news reader in Ram Gopal Varma's 2010 political thriller Rann. After reading in a newspaper advertisement that mentioned Dibakar Banerjee was looking for newcomers for his found footage anthology film Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010), he auditioned for the film and was selected. The film consists of three stories; Rao appears in the second story opposite Neha Chauhan. He played Adarsh, a supermarket supervisor who cons an employee into sleeping with him so he can record the act on a hidden camera and sell it. To fit the part, he had to lose 6 kilograms (13 lb) in a month. The film and Rao's performance met with critical acclaim. It also turned out to be a profitable box-office venture.

After the success of his debut film, producer Ekta Kapoor offered Rao the lead role in the found footage horror film Ragini MMS (2011). He was reluctant initially to accept it, as it seemed similar to his previous work, but he took up the offer at casting director Atul Mongia's insistence. Despite an unfavorable critical response, the film was a box-office success. His next release was Bejoy Nambiar's crime thriller Shaitan (2011), in which he played a slimy police officer. Raja Sen, who was critical of the film, praised Rao's performance by calling him "reliably terrific".

Director Anurag Kashyap had liked Rao's performance in Love Sex Aur Dhokha and cast him in Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2 (2012), a followup to his crime film Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1. He played the supporting role of Shamshad Alam for which he visited Wasseypur to perfect his accent and character. The film was a critical and financial success. His subsequent role was that of independence activist Lokenath Bal in Bedabrata Pain's historical drama Chittagong (2012), which was based on the Chittagong armoury raid. His final release of the year was Reema Kagti's suspense thriller Talaash: The Answer Lies Within, where he played a cop. The film, starring Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shernaz Patel, had worldwide earnings of over ₹1.74 billion (US$24 million) to emerge as the year's eighth highest-grossing Hindi film. Rajeev Masand commented that in just one scene Rao shows "what a good actor can bring even to a small part"