In the past few years, Rajesh Tailang has delivered some memorable performances in intense roles like Selection Day, Mirzapur and Bandish Bandits — which is exactly why he signed on for Bakaiti, the light-hearted dramedy whose season 2 premiered on ZEE5 last week. Rajesh was tired of heavy roles, he tells us, and Bakaiti, which promised to show him in a different light, felt like a breath of fresh air. The actor adds, “It wasn’t just my character, Sanjay Kataria , that I liked. I wanted to be a part of the slice-of-life genre, and this world that is light, has some drama, and is more of a dramedy. The character is beautiful too — he has his little strengths and weaknesses. But more importantly, it is relatable.”
Most film-lovers probably know of Rajesh since Selection Day (2019), but the actor has had an interesting and rather unusual journey as an artist. Even before graduating from NSD, he had already headlined a Doordarshan show titled Dhaai Aakhar. The Mirzapur actor also appeared in popular 90s TV show Shaanti. However, between Dhaai Aakhar and the Richie Mehta film Siddharth (2013), Rajesh was a jack and almost-a-master of many trades for many years, as he recalls in our conversation. He talks about his late brother and eminent cartoonist Sudhir Tailang, whom he assisted for years. Rajesh recalls, “Sudhir used to make documentaries for Doordarshan. He also made animation films; I used to assist him with those, so I had the idea of technicalities. Then I made a few short films in between. When I didn't get the job of acting, these things helped me to survive.” And yet, Rajesh clarifies he never had plans to pursue writing or filmmaking as a career plan. “I thought that every aspect of cinema attracts me so I kept learning everything at the same time — be it editing, camera, or direction. Be it directing ad films, writing for TV, or directing series or talk shows. I used to do such things in between, mostly for survival but also for learning.”
For many years, between late 90s and early 2010s, Rajesh kept travelling between Delhi and Mumbai for work. He recalls, “In a way, I haven't returned completely yet. I kept coming one step at a time. But yes, I came back properly in a way when I did Siddharth. I got that role while staying in Delhi. After that, people began noticing me and started giving me work. That’s when Phantom and other films happened. Gradually came the period of OTT boom in 2017. Then onwards, the work only increased. When I started acting more, I stopped doing other work.”
The actor, whose upcoming works include Paan Parda Zarda, a series by Mirzapur director Gurmmeet Singh and Karname, directed by Vinay Vaikul (Aranyak), says there is a lot more he can offer than the roles we see him in. He aspires to do a comedy, or even an age-appropriate romance. But more importantly, he wants to play roles which have a greater significance in the story. The actor adds, “All the offers that you get is that you have. What you want to do can be a lot. What I want to do may not even be an offer. But among the options that come to me, I see what will be a different challenge. “I want to try different genres, like comedy. I want to do an age-appropriate romantic film, obviously not the dancing-around-the-tree types.”
What kind of an impact does the contemporary era of content overdrive have on an actor’s work, we ask. Rajesh responds that he chooses to not consume too much content, be it films or shows. He elaborates, “I see very little fiction, or my own work. Often, I don't even have an idea of what is releasing, whose work is releasing. Sometimes it helps me, at other times, I am clueless what to talk about with other artists. But as an actor, it helps me because my acting references come from life, not other works of art — as they should.”
