Rajeev adds a new feather in his cap

For Rajeev Khandelwal, not much has changed in his life even after the lockdown was imposed. While he is spending time with his family at his house in Goa, he continues to live life just the way he has always lived. “My routine life continues even now. The only difference is that I can’t step out. My house in Goa is like a recreational centre and since I’m here right now, I’m getting to exercise and do yoga, gardening, writing, reading, cooking, playing the harmonica, and swimming. I’m also learning to strum a few strings on my guitar,” he shares.

What’s that one change that he would want to see in the post-coronavirus world? “I would want the world to appreciate the smaller things in life. The joy of doing small little things is much bigger than just chasing after materialistic stuff. I hope that people learn from this lockdown and retain all the goodness that has flowed in,” says the Aamir (2008) actor.

But what makes Khandelwal excited is that the audience recently got to watch him in a teleplay. Talking about his debut in theatre, he says, “Working on my teleplay, Court Martial, has been thrilling because I’ve always wanted to do a play, not for the world but for myself. And because it’s one of the most challenging mediums for an actor.”

After dabbling in television, films and the web, the actor’s happy to have added a new feather in his hat. He says that performing before a live audience gave him “a personal high”. He elaborates, “To perform on stage in front of a live audience is an absolutely different ball game. We did the entire play on the grand rehearsal day. We enacted the 90-minute play in one go, in front of an audience consisting of technicians, the creative team, my friends, and invitees from within our crew.”

The joy of doing small little things is much bigger than just chasing after materialistic stuff. RAJEEV KHANDELWAL, ACTOR