Rajpal Yadav feels ‘healed’, can’t wait to start

By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, March 27 (IANS) Actor Rajpal Yadav, who came out of prison late February after serving a sentence in a case of non-repayment of a loan, says he is healed, happy and excited to go back to a film set and start shooting all over again.

"I will soon start the shooting of the film 'Time To Dance' (alongside Sooraj Pancholi and Isabelle Kaif). We shot the film abroad. A small part of it remains. We will finish that. It could have been finished before, but I am really thankful to the producers and directors who waited for me to come back.

"That apart, I am also wrapping up 'Jaako Raakhe Saaiyan'. I am also in talks to work with David Dhawan and Priyadarshan. I can't wait to go back on a film set now," Rajpal told IANS here.

In November 2018, the Delhi High Court sentenced him to three months in prison for non-repayment of a loan of Rs 5 crore that his company took to produce a film in 2010.

"I think the law is equal for everyone and no one is immune from the law of the nation, the legal system. So I followed the court's decision as a law abiding citizen," Rajpal said.

"I think I trusted a few people who later misused my trust. But I do not want to comment much on that. I want to move forward as I know life has a lot to offer," he added.

He was lodged at the Tihar Jail, and there was news that he had also performed during a cultural programme held for the prison inmates.

"There was a lot of discipline that we all had to follow. But I always tried to engage my mind with something or the other. I used to interact with the fellow prisoners during recreation activity; I used to conduct an interactive session that we named 'Rajpal Ki Paathshala'.

"I gave a motivational speeches. Did exercise in the morning. We had access to the library and I used to sit there and read."

The actor is known for playing some interesting characters in films like "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Waqt: The Race Against Time", "Bhool Bhulaiyaa", "Partner", "Bhagam Bhag" and "Judwaa 2" among several others.

He has shared screen space with actors including Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Govinda and Varun Dhawan.

Rajpal has worked in independent and small budget films for many years while balancing roles in commercial potboilers. What does he think of the evolution in Hindi cinema?

"I think this is the time we have waited for 'especially when we started making small budget content-driven films where the story was the hero. Earlier those films use to be called -- one of', now these films are mainstream alongside big budget masala films."

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)