We’re single and happily in a relationship: Rajkummar

Patralekha and I are happy working. Our families are also waiting patiently; they want us to do good work right now RAJKUMMAR RAO, ACTOR

Actor Rajkummar Rao has been dating actor Patralekha, who was his co-star in the gritty urban drama City Lights (2014), for five years now. He says that people often think they’re married but they’re “single and happily in a relationship”. Stating that both of them have got used to stuff being written about them, he adds that rumours are a part and parcel of an actor’s life. “There are so many things that we read about [ourselves]. A lot of people think that we’re married. But all I want to say is that we are single and happily in a relationship. Reports keep coming up about how we were fighting outside the gym or indulging in PDA... but we never respond to all that,” says Rajkummar.

The actor adds, “After a while, you stop reacting to these [rumours]. We know the truth. As long as we’re happy, we don’t need to tell anyone anything.” Rajkummar says that he and Patralekha are busy with work and are in no hurry to tie the knot.

The actor has had very different looks in his most recent roles — he played a 324-year-old man in Raabta; a grungy young fellow in Trapped; and will appear as a half-bald Subhash Chandra Bose in his web series. He likes to try different things on screen. “You never know what will work. I just listen to my heart,” he says. “Since day one, that has been the rule for me. If I have to come on board for a film, there has to be something for me to play. That has always been the case.”