Rajkummar Rao is on a high, but

Stree 2 starring Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao remains unstoppable! Grossing over ₹ 400 crores in the second weekend, the horror comedy is all set to make its way into the ₹ 500 crore plus category.

The film’s success has come as a boon for the box office, which has been grappling with low ticket sales. With Stree 2, Rajkummar also completes his hattrick of hits, after Mr and Mrs Mahi and Srikkanth, released earlier this year. Though this is his first film to make ₹ 400 crore.

But, even as applause follows him for reprising his role as Vicky in Stree 2, industry experts advice caution before burdening him with the tag of ‘₹ 500 crore hero.’

“Stree 2 is a blockbuster. But, let us not weigh down Rajkummar with overly high expectations in films to come. Stree 1, which he led from the front, was an ensemble. His biggest grosser as a solo hero has been Srikkanth which made ₹ 50 crore, a decent sum, given the scale on which it was made. But, apart from that, his films as a solo lead have done less than ₹ 50 crore. Mr and Mrs Mahi made around ₹ 30 crore. So, to say he is the new mascot of the ₹ 500 crore club is unfair,” says film critic Joginder Tuteja.

Rajkumar completes 14 years in Bollywood, a journey which began with supporting roles in films such as Love Sex Aur Dokha in 2010, Gangs of Wasseypur and Talaash (2012). He came under the spotlight with his performance in Kai Po Che (2013), but it was his raw portrayal of human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi in Hansal Mehta’s Shahid which won him critical acclaim and a National Award for Best Actor.

He continued to impress critics with his supporting performances in films such as Queen, Aligarh and Bareilly Ki Barfi. In 2017 he finally got the opportunity to lead two independent projects, Vikram Aditya Motwane’s Trapped, the story of a man trapped in an apartment, and Amit Masurkar’s Newton, playing a government official on election duty. The films won him praise, but it seemed he still wasn’t mainstream enough in Bollywood’s eyes.

It was with Stree 1 in 2018 that he tasted his biggest box office success. This was soon followed by the thriller White Tiger opposite Priyanka Chopra. Though the film received mixed reviews, Rajkummar Rao’s performance was well appreciated.

With Anubhav Sinha’s Ludo, followed by Monica o’ My Darling, Bheed and Badhai Do (in which he played a closet gay), he became synonymous with good cinema and performances and joined the league of actors who have dismantled the image of the typical hero and set the emphasis on the ‘act’ in ‘actor’.

“I have always abhorred the word ‘hero’ and never aspired to be one. I am an actor, it has such a beautiful sound to it. ‘Hero’ does not have that charm. An actor carries so much gravitas and this was something I aspired to be,” he says.

Rajkummar Rao’s next release is the rom-com Vicky Aur Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, opposite Tripti Dimri, and there is no doubt that trade pundits will have their lenses trained on his performance. “Can he with his next as a solo lead, give a ₹ 100 crore film, and then raise the bar with films to come? That would be a fair question. But to compare everything to Stree 2 is unfair since it’s an ensemble cast and everyone, including the writer and director, deserves equal merit. Let us not pin the blockbuster success on one person and make it all about them. Give him a breather and let him do what he does. Rajkummar has been doing well. He has his strengths and limitations, and let's set expectations based on those, rather than this one film,” says Joginder Tuteja.

Rajkummar, well aware of all the developments, says, “I have never wanted to compartmentalise myself as ‘this is what Raj does’ or ‘this is the kind of character Raj plays’. People anticipate good work from me and that’s something I expect from myself too.”