Rrajesh Yadav was part of Campus Diaries, a coming-of-age drama revolving around six students belonging to a premiere University. Rrajesh who essayed Sandy might be a content creator first but his portrayal of a complex character proved his dexterity in acting as well. With the second season of the loved college drama arriving very soon, Rrajesh Yadav sat with News18 Showsha to spill beans on the upcoming addition, the trajectory that the story would take, his future projects, challenges of being a content creator and more.
On being asked if the cast and crew of Campus Diaries anticipated such an overwhelming response to their series, Rrajesh answered, “Campus Diaries was last year’s highest watched series. So we didn’t anticipate that kind of response considering it was released alongside big web series that were headlines by prominent faces. But our content was good so we were sure that people would enjoy it once they watched it.
But it’ll be such a big hit, it was something we didn’t anticipate. But we were confident about our output.”
He added,”The biggest reason behind the show success was the performances by every actor was brilliant. They did justice to the characters that were assigned to them and infact they took that additional steps from what was written in the script in terms of characterization. They improvised it and it was a good mix of everything. If we talk about other campus shows, they don’t showcase as many emotions as we had in Campus Diaries. There was a beautiful love track that came out organically, there were struggles shown by characters especially Harsh Beniwal’s characters. So the character arc was well-written even for the smaller characters. The director and the writer are equally to be credited. Enhanced performance.”
Rrajesh Yadav further talked about the
similarities between him and his character of Sandy, “The character of Sandy was not a senior. He was a 2nd year student. It wasn’t like he was a fresher or the most senior student.
I could relate to that character because of my college days. When I was in my second year of college, even I got involved in college politics. I could see that similarity with Sandy because he too was not a newbie but was certainly not as experienced as his seniors who were part of student politics. Although the character arc was different from my real life since I didn’t fight that election, but the scenes where he is showing his friendship and how he is looking at his own interests since every character looks after his own interests. Sandy has a very human nature so to a great extent, when I was reading the character sketch lines, I could imagine myself doing what he will do if I was in his place. So when I saw that character from that lens, I felt that connection,” he shared.
As for what’s stored for Sandy in the coming season, Rrajesh explained,”My character would be taking forward from where it last left. Because now I have won the elections and the way I won it, I have made a lot of enemies. Because all my opponents now know who I am. Prior to that, they used to think I was their friend. Now Season 2 will have a lot of politics. In the previous season, people were conspiring against each other behind their backs but in this season, it will be done openly and blatantly. True faces of the characters are revealed. Especially in this season, my character is going to be more intense because everything is going to happen directly, whether it’s fighting, love and friendship.”
He also shared, “There were enough twists and turns in Season 1. By the time it concluded, it took the shape of a new story and a plot. A love triangle was revealed. Season 2 would take those complex stories a notch higher because now what will happen is going to happen directly. The story will take forward the clashes of opinions and right and wrong. Love stories will go parallel.”
Rrajesh Yadav further answered if there was a dissonance working with the director and writer or if they felt any kind of pressure, “No we never felt the pressure. In fact, there was an ease in the way of working. Because of the way we were working and the way we learnt, Abhishek Yadav the writer and Prem the director had undergone the same process of learning. So when we were on the sets and when we were reading the scripts, to a great extent, we were on the same page. So when we used to read the characters that were written for us, a lot of things used to be improvised on the spot because we all shared the same approach and way of working. So my director never made us feel like we were not actors and that we are content creators or that our way of doing things was different from our writers and directors. So it was easy for me. The credit goes to the director and the team because they made us feel comfortable,” he stated.
Sharing his experience working with other content creators like Saloni Gaur, Harsh Beniwal and others, Rrajesh said, “It was very good because mostly we knew each other from before. I had known Harsh Beniwal from before. I had worked with him. I knew Saloni, Ritwik, Prem and Abhishek. So our chemistry was already good. When we were on sets, we don’t use to get time to Interact. But when we’ll return to our hotels, If the call time is late the next day, we’ll talk late in the night, we’ll tell each other stories, etc. So that friendly atmosphere was already good. And that energy used to translate on the sets.”
Spilling details about his on-going film that is being shot in Chandigarh, Rrajesh disclosed, “It’s a small town story. It’s a story about three characters who are going through personal life struggles and the incident that transpires makes their plans go awry. The three characters have their own seperate journey, their own stories but their life encounters a turn that changes their lives towards the end of the film. It’s a middle class story. I play Jaggu. He is innocent, who doesn’t do anything wrong to anyone intentionally. But he takes shortcuts in life. So if he wants to earn money, he’ll take a shortcut for that. But those shortcuts land him in trouble and his friends help him out of that soup. So his character is such that you’ll feel like everyone needs a friend like him. That he can go to any extent to help out his friend. He is a likeable character.”
When asked if he would like to direct a project someday, Rrajesh said, “I find the role of a director to be very tough. Before it was my dream to become a director but when I realised on the sets that the director job actually entails him to be there on the sets all the time as opposed to actors like us who work within the assigned time. The director is fully involved in post production. So now I think it’s tough but in future I would like to learn by working with good people. And then I will try to direct something. Because the process of a director is really beautiful. They turn a thought into a project. I want to feel that but before that, I have to learn a lot.”
Content creation on social media has become a viable career post Covid-19 pandemic. Owing to that, there millions of people trying their hand to go viral and become popular. When asked if he feels the weight of being relevant, Rrajesh shared, “It happens. I can tell you a timeline. There was an era before Covid and after Covid. Before Covid, there were more people watching content but after Covid, more people are making content. Everyone is creating some or the other content. So the content is coming fast and people are coming with different kinds of content and they go viral. So I get these thoughts that I have to stay relevant. I feel the pressure to create more content to stay relevant. I have to be active and to be seen to stay relevant. So there is pressure and I feel it as well. But if you succumb to that pressure, then you lose the track. If I am making something then it’s good, If I am not making it, that is also alright. This is tough and not everyone can do it since I have talked to a lot of content creators who are worried that they are not able to create something. But I tell myself, if it is not coming to me, leave it for 3-4 days. It’s a big challenge to stay relevant because there is a big crowd. I feel proud of myself because I have stayed relevant for 4-5 years. I relish that confidence.”
Rrajesh Yadav finally concluded by sharing his dream role, “People tell me that I do comedy but what I feel like the character that I would enjoy the most will be a serious and intense one. One character if I ever get an option to essay, it would be Jordan from Rockstar.
Because I feel like that character is full of emotions. And it’s my dream to work with Imtiaz Ali because I don’t think any other director can understand the human emotion like him. Another film-maker that I really admire is Vikramaditya Motwane. I love his craft and his versatility to make different kinds of films. He can make Trapped. He can make Lootera. These are two directors I want to work with,” he said.
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