‘Winning a national award was a numbing moment…’

Young actor Chandrachoor Rai dreamt big and wished to work in best of films. But, never in his wildest dream had he thought that in a career spanning just seven years he will receive a special mention at 66th National Film Awards (2019).

“I was shocked instead of being surprised. I vividly remember when I got a call from actor Vinay Pathak to inform about the award that I had won for my role in Rajat Kapoor’s directorial ‘Kadakh,’ I was all numb and emotional at the same time. It was difficult for me to believe till I read it in the newspaper myself,” he said over phone.

Talking about his early days, Chandrachoor said, “I come from a non-filmi background was asked to take up a career in journalism by my parents. But I was well aware with my penchant for acting. I had made up my mind to give it a shot because during my mass communication course I had understood what the craft of acting was all about and I simply enjoyed the process of film making. The only condition laid by my father was to train myself in acting.” He joined Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and completed two-year of acting course. Chandrachoor has been part of films like ‘Ankhon Dekhi,’ ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha,’ Meri Pyaari Bindu,’ ‘Meeruthiya Gangsters’ and web series ‘Upstarts.’

“When I came Mumbai, I called up Saurabh (Shukla) sir as he and Rajat (Kapoor) sir had come to FTII for workshops. They were like my gurus so when I reached Mumbai, I called them. When I spoke to Saurabh sir he was like ‘office aa jao’. He was writing some plays and I assisted him in writing my version of scenes and stories and then we used to jam over them. It was there only when I got to know that Rajat sir was casting for his film ‘Ankhon Dekhi’ and one of his friends asked me to go for its auditions and rest is history,” he said.

His mother hails from UP and he has many of his relatives and school bestie living in the state capital. “I have also shot one of my films here. With relatives and my best friend from school living here, I have visited Lucknow umpteen number times during my younger days. Hanging around in Chowk and Gomti Nagar was our favourite pastime then.”

His latest release ‘Kadakh’, that won appreciation across globe, is being well received on OTT platform. Chandrachoor hopes to be back to work soon, “My career is going well but finding work as per your choice is not that easy but at the same time I’m content that gradually it’s happening. Getting quality work is a daunting task for any actor. My next film to release will be ‘Fairyfolk’ with actor Rasika Duggal. It’s in post-production followed by film ‘Rk rk’ and ‘Sir’. The latter went to Cannes Film Fest,” he adds.

Chandrachoor Rai