Why Rajkummar Rao is Scared to Play Subhash Chandra Bose

Mumbai: Despite having played characters inspired by real life personalities, actor Rajkummar Rao says he is scared to enact Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on screen. He will be seen as Netaji in a new digital series, to be produced by Ekta Kapoor's ALT Balaji.

The web series will try to showcase the untold story of Netaji's life. The actor says he is currently tied up with the shooting of Behen Hogi Teri, post which he will dive into the web series. "I am too scared right now. I have to finish Behen Hogi Teri and then get right into that zone to seriously start preparing for it. It is a huge responsibility to play Netaji," Rajkummar told PTI.

The National Award-winning actor, best known for working in biopics like "Shahid" and "Aligarh", has already started researching for the role. "He is a national figure, people love him, I love him. It is very exciting. It's a web series. But the process is the same no matter if it's web or a feature film," he said. "I've started reading and researching about it. But since I am currently shooting Behen Hogi Teri, I want to finish this one first before starting with my preparation for the other role," he said.

Apart from playing an iconic national figure in the web series, the 32-year-old actor is also excited about Newton, which he says is a "truly Indian" film.

"Newton is a very Indian film. I think after a long time people will see an Indian film in its true form. As in the story, the character, it is set in the heartland of India but it's purely like how there was a time when Hrishikesh Mukherjee used to make sweet Indian films," the actor said.

Directed by Amit Masurkar, Newton is about a rookie clerk on election duty in a conflict-ridden jungle of Central India who tries his best to conduct free and fair voting. Rajkummar says the film talks about democracy and voting rights with a satirical tone.

"We shot in jungles for that. It's a one day story of a guy called Newton Kumar and the backdrop is election. How the most powerful tool we have as citizens is vote, but how we don't utilise it. We really don't give importance to it. It talks about democracy, it's a satire, a black comedy," he said.