MUMBAI : Vinod Rawat was employed at a McDonald's restaurant in New Delhi two years following the release of Hrithik Roshan's phenomenal breakthrough film Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. During his night duties as a floor manager, he would imitate Bollywood actors. He had no desire to work in the movie business at all, much less become an actor. However, his movie Pushtaini made its theatrical debut last Friday, and according to Rawat, one of the most remarkable parts of the experience was seeing Hrithik Roshan himself present the picture.
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Since the star's critically acclaimed 2017 movie Kaabil, Vinod has been engaged with Hrithik as an acting instructor. Together, they have collaborated on Super 30, Vikram Vedha, War, and this year's Fighter.
Vinod, who will be debuting as an actor, producer and director for Pushtaini said, “A lot of people are supporting me in a manner I never expected, including Hrithik. The faith they have entrusted, I know I have to live up to it.”
Rajkummar Rao, who was with Vinod when he left his job at McDonald's to join a theatrical group, makes a cameo appearance in the movie as well.
While Vinod Rawat was born and reared in South Delhi's Kidwai Nagar, his roots are in Uttarakhand, where he penned the poignant father-son narrative Pushtani. His father, a driver in the Ministry of Rural Development, was a tenth grade dropout. In the modest two-bedroom home, there was no "movie culture," but Vinod was always driven to achieve more and have lofty goals.
He therefore began peddling computer accessories on the streets of Delhi after failing his 12th grade examinations. Upon completing his correspondence school, he entered the fast-food restaurant, referring to it as his "real college."
Vinod revealed, “I started as a crew member and then I became a floor manager around 2002-04. Which meant I was no more a cap-guy, it is a job upgrade, one could handle stores after that. I was there for two years, and I only did night shifts. No one in my family is associated with acting but I would mimic 30 actors and at least 10 cartoon characters.”
He added, “My favourites were Johny Lever and Johny Walker, not Naseeruddin Shah or Dev Anand. My father was 10th fail, my mother uneducated, so there was no film culture at all. We didn’t even have TV for the longest, so we would watch it through windows of others and dance.”
Vinod had a crew member at McDonald's who would impersonate him. But one day, he simply vanished. The director was devastated when he began to miss their acting class, but a month later, his friend reappeared and told him stories about the bustling theater scene in Delhi. Vinod made the decision to "quit everything" and pursue acting when something "stirred" in him. He so dropped from earning Rs 25,000 a month to Rs 500, which is what he would get from performing in plays.
Vinod added, “It was in Kshitij Theatre Group in Mayur Vihar that I met Rajkummar Rao! In a way, he is my mentor. He got into FTII and once he came back, he got the form for me, explained me the procedure He moved to Mumbai before me and helped me even with housing, where to stay!”
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Vinod concluded, “One day when Anil Kapoor sir and Hrithik met, where he said he loved Sonam in Neerja and asked how did she do it. Then Anil sir spoke about me. Now, Hrithik has the constant urge to explore. He is hungry to learn. So he called me the next day. He wanted to talk, learn. It was a fantastic meeting. That time he was finishing the dubbing of Mohenjo-daro and gave me the script of Kaabil. That’s how we started.”
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Credit-IndianExpress
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