'I'm Underrated', 30 Years On, Rajesh Jais Is Still Waiting For That One Role To Show His Full Potential

Veteran actor Rajesh Jais¡¯ recent film Tu Jhoothi Mai Makkar is in theatres and has received a thumbs up from both critics and audiences. Jais who plays Shraddha Kapoor¡¯s father in the movie has poured his heart out in an exclusive interview with Indiatimes. From his life story to industry experiences, Rajesh shared with us some unheard anecdotes from his journey that are worth inspiring.

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¡®I am underrated¡¯

He has worked over 30 years in the industry and yet feels the best is yet to come. "My full potential hasn¡¯t come out yet. Yes, I do feel I am underrated but I am not alone, there are many like me. I don¡¯t blame anyone for that. Existing trend, protocol, system and fate everything plays their roles. My best is yet to come.¡±

The man who made his debut in feature films with a eunuch role in Oh Darling Yeh Hai India with Shah Rukh Khan has recently worked in some most talked about web series like Scam 1992, Paatal Lok, Jahanabad, Raana Naidu, Tanaav and Panchayat. But he is still waiting for that one character to showcase his full potential.

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"I recall being considered for a role where they asked me for a VHS of my work. I was then repeatedly informed that they didn¡¯t have a VCR player to see my work clips. I was later dropped from the project and someone senior later made me understand that It was their signal of asking for a Video player as a gift from me."

Acting was his first choice but Jais was sceptical.

As acting wasn't mainstream back in time, Rajesh was ready with three more options if he failed to crack the first one: Lectureship, Lieutenant and Journalism. He cracked UGC Net and aimed at becoming a theatre professor at Delhi University. Later also cleared Territorial Army's Lieutenant's written exam and interview for backup.

Jais who spent his childhood with tribal kids in Jharkhand catching crabs and snails, playing with snakes and eating roasted fish in crop fields, wanted to join the air force like his father, who had passed away in his early childhood.

While waiting for the airforce jeep that would take him from college to Ranchi Airport for regular Gliding Training, he came across a street play group and enticed by it, he became a part of it. That was the beginning of his acting journey.

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Rajesh is a proud NSD graduate only because of his friends.

"I remember I had to give a draft of Rs 1300 on my joining day at NSD which wasn¡¯t feasible for me." He thought of joining IIMC instead where he was already selected but his friends weren¡¯t settling for this.

"They crowdfunded money, created a draft, bought a trunk and filled it with clothes and shoes and booked my tickets. They said, ¡®Beta Tujhe NSD Jaana Hai, Tujhe Actor Banana Hai¡¯. That was the day when the weeping and insecure me boarded my train of dreams."

He came to Mumbai only because of Saurabh Shukla and Anil Chaudhary.

"It was one day at 9:30 AM that actor Saurabh Shukla entered my room alongside Anil Chaudhary (dialogue writer of Amar Jyoti). Shukla told me, 'Aaj 2:20 ki ek frontier train jaa rahi hai Mumbai or wo special hai'. I asked how? To which he replied, ¡®Kyunki isme Rajesh Jais bhi jaa raha¡¯.¡±

The journey in Mumbai wasn't rosy for him but he tried to create his own world. ¡®Our 2BHK was an adda for all wannabes.¡¯

¡°Five of us: Saurabh Shukla, Anil Chaudhary, Vijay Krishna Acharya (writer of Dhoom franchise), NSD veteran late Jitendra Shashti and I started living together. Our flat was filled with almost 10-12 people at any given moment which had regular visitors like including Tigmanshu Dhulia, Irrfan Khan, Sanjay Mishra, Manoj Bajpayee, Atul Shrivastava and Vineet Kumar."

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Did you know he had almost bagged Lagaan but missed the opportunity because of prior commitments?

Rajesh shared, ¡°When I got a call for Lagaan, I had two weekly Tv shows in hand. Ashutosh Gowarikar¡¯s team asked me for 90 days at a stretch but I wasn¡¯t in a position to leave the shows in hand or else I would have been tagged disloyal by Tv makers.

On the other hand, he rejected Maachis.

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"In Maachis' case, I was called for the role of hero¡¯s friend and I couldn¡¯t settle for that. At a peak of my career in the television industry, I didn¡¯t think that role would help me anyway and guess what, I was wrong.¡±

Rajesh Jais was once accused of throwing tantrums for demanding a vanity van to bathe.

"It was once that I remember during a continuous 3 days¡¯ long schedule there was no place to bathe on set so I requested a vanity or a nearby hotel room. The makers told the channel that ¡®actor ke nakhre badh gaye hai¡¯. When the channel called me I clarified my hygiene concerns and they luckily understood.¡±

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"The country started believing that Bollywood is bad and survives on drugs. The boycott Bollywood gang came up, the nepotism debate started roaring, #Metoo cases also slipped in, and all of this kept scratching Bollywood¡¯s road to success."

Rajesh has featured in some popular web series like Jehanabad, Panchayat, Paatal Lok and Scam 1992, but he thinks until a year ago OTT was a dumping ground for anything and everything. "Dhele Bhar Ki Film Bhi astronomical price me biki hai wahan."

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Having worked across all platforms - TV, OTT and films - Jais feels the film industry sometimes thinks differently about TV actors for a few apparent reasons.

¡°For producers who are making a project with crores of investments want to offer fresh faces in lead roles and if that¡¯s a Starkid, it's a gaga deal. In the case of daily soap actors, makers think that they are already very exposed even if they are bigger names. TV actors are prone to get caught in a patterned style of acting because of repetitiveness which doesn't go well with films sometimes."

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"If they break their shell of predictability, they make it through and those who don¡¯t say they are being looked down upon¡±, Jais joked.

However, he will forever be grateful to TV for giving him the platform to act and learn. "Financially as well, TV was a big sustainable support." A proud student of NSD veteran Mr Ajay Malkhani, Rajesh has done over 300 shows as a narrator of the popular play Mughal-E-Azam and has multiple shows lined up in US and Canada this year.

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