Gajraj Rao on social comedies: I typically marvel how Ayushmann Khurrana visualises such tales

It’s fascinating how a few of Gajraj Rao‘s current movies — Maja Ma, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and Made In China — had been all social comedies, a style championed by his frequent co-star Ayushmann Khurrana. The Dungarpur-born actor says at any time when scripts of light-hearted movies with an underlying message come his approach, he typically wonders how Khurrana, his co-star from Badhaai Ho and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, would give it some thought.

“Routine life is boring. One ought to attempt to do movies which are away from that routine. I’m lucky that movies like Black Friday, Bandit Queen, Talvar, and Aamir got here my approach. But put up Badhaai Ho, Ayushmann as a inventive individual evokes me loads.

“I may be a bit senior to him in terms of age and experience, but… whenever a script like this (social comedy) comes to me, I wonder how Ayushmann would visualise this one or what he will do with it. It’s very inspirational,” Rao instructed PTI in a digital interview.

The actor additional praised Khurrana for persevering with down the “road less travelled”. “He can easily go and do rom-coms. But he takes risks in every project. He knows that not every film of his will be super successful. There will be some stories that will not reach people, that they will perhaps not accept them. But he is not changing his path,” he added.

Rao’s upcoming Hindi movie Thai Massage, by which he performs a lonely 70-year-old man residing in a small city, is yet one more film that falls within the area of social comedy style.

Billed as a household entertainer set in Ujjain and Thailand, the film presents the heartwarming story of a conventional man named Atmaram Dubey (Rao) within the nightfall of his life going through erectile dysfunction. Rao mentioned a number of National Award winner Hadawale, recognized for the Marathi movie Tingya, approached him for the film.

“I had watched his film Tingya and I was very impressed with his work. He is a remarkable writer and director. This is a progressive story, not your regular formula film in terms of the story.” The actor mentioned his character is a person who musters the braveness to go on a journey to Thailand to fulfil his needs after spending his entire life repressing his needs.

“Atmaram Dubey spent all his life taking care of others. He never did anything for himself. His wife was bedridden for about two decades before she passed away. He is a simple man… This is the story of the loneliness of a 70-year-old man who hails from a small town.” Also a theatre actor and an ad-filmmaker, Rao credited the viewers for making “space” for movies like Thai Massage and 2018’s Badhaai Ho, which noticed a middle-aged couple (Neena Gupta and Rao) deal with the social stigma of an unplanned being pregnant.

“We are able to make such stories because the audience is accepting them. They are giving space to these movies. In the case of Thai Massage, I am happy to see that people are neither making fun of the story idea nor shying away from it,” he added.

For the longest time, Rao mentioned the viewers used to consider the cliche that “one must do things that suit their age”, however the development is now altering. “We have all the time considered age like that and that’s how we put the aged in a mould. In different elements of the world, issues are completely different. Today, even the youthful viewers members need to see a change, particularly as a result of they’re uncovered to international content material.

“They also expect India to make different stories. The entertainment industry is changing. If people agree with (the story) it or not, that’s secondary. But accepting it can also happen and I am ok with, it is different. It’s a promising trend,” the actor mentioned.

Also starring Divyenndu Sharma, Sunny Hinduja, Rajpal Yadav, Vibha Chibber, and Russian actor Alina Zasobina, Thai Massage is slated to hit the screens on November 11. The movie is produced by Imtiaz Ali, T-Series Films and Reliance Entertainment.

Rao will subsequent be seen in Badhaai Ho director Amit Sharma’s sports activities drama Maidaan, headlined by Ajay Devgn, and the Kartik Aaryan-Kiara Advani starrer Satyaprem Ki Katha for which he’s at present capturing in Ahmedabad.