Rajesh Kumar: No parent says that their son will become a farmer, as long as they ask for coriander for free, they will not prosper

For a long time, he/she brought smiles to people’s faces as the innocent Rosesh of ‘Sarabhai vs Sarabhai’. Then, the passion to do something for the society by moving ahead of himself took hold within him/her, so he/she left all the glamour and started farming in his/her village in Bihar. We are talking about Rajesh Kumar who proudly calls himself an actor/farmer. We had this special conversation with Rajesh Kumar who will soon be seen in the films ‘Binny’ and ‘Family’In the film, you are playing the role of a bridge between two generations, a grandfather and granddaughter. Did you relate to this character in any way?
To tell you the truth, Vinay’s character in the film and I are exactly alike. I had told the writer-director of the film Sanjay Tripathi that this character is me. Our generation will always face this problem of handling two generations. On the other hand, the background of the story, like this character is from Bihar like me, has studied in Delhi. he/she has had a love marriage with a girl from South Delhi, I have married a girl from South Mumbai, so a lot is similar. Apart from this, the relationship between a son and a father on screen is whether it is fear or respect, in real life we ​​also have the same relationship with our father, so I believed that no one could have played this character better than me.

Like the film, your own father is also from Bihar, while your children grew up in Mumbai. Was that generation gap seen at home as well? What is their relationship with their grandparents?
They were a little confused in the beginning. They mimicked the respect or scared behaviour I showed towards my father. They were scared in the beginning that they would have to talk to their grandparents in the same way but soon they got over their fear because my father’s behaviour with them is completely different. They say that we live our child’s childhood through our grandchildren because when we were growing up our father was busy earning money.

When you decided to leave a glamorous profession like acting and take up farming in the village, what was the reaction of your wife and children, because we do say Jai Kisan, but do not give it the respect it deserves?
You are absolutely right. This thinking is the main problem that today in a country with a population of 144 crores, not even one percent of parents will say that my child will grow up to be a farmer. It was during Covid that people understood that in the end you are doing everything to eat good food, so is the person who grows it important or not. If we do not glamorize it, do not make people aware of its problem, then the way things are getting worse, the next generation will suffer the consequences. That is why I decided that we should go beyond myself and think about the universe and I took this risk. I thought of this at the age of 42 when I was at my prime, because I felt that this was the time. Right now I have a lot of energy. At the age of 60, when my hands and feet would become a little cold, then perhaps I would not have thought of doing this. I had to explain a little to the children but they respect that thing. Whether it is a vegetable seller or a vegetable grower, they have respect for them. They do not have any tantrums regarding food and drink because they understand that whether the vegetable seller is there or the grower is there. They have a gratitude. They do not have any tantrums regarding food and drink because they understand its importance.

You decided to take up farming with the intention of bringing about social change. I heard that you had to take this step due to lack of work?
No, no, there was absolutely no dearth of work. I did not work deliberately, because there is a saturation in television, so this transition happened very smoothly. My show Neeli Chhatri Wale was ending. After that, before I would get any new work, the thought of farming excited me and I thought this could also be a good career option. You are also looking for a solution to a problem and somewhere farming is in my blood, so I thought I should do that.

The risk you took to do organic farming at the age of 42, you suffered huge losses in the beginning. You reached the state of penury. How did you keep your spirits up in that depressing phase? And how did you recover from it?
The family supported me in getting out of it. When my father saw that his/her son was completely stuck in the swamp, he/she came to take him/her out. he/she paid off the loan and brought me back to a level from where I could move forward, but to be honest, even then I did not have any feeling of despair. I felt that I had really tried very hard. I came to know from that where the problems were. I failed where probably every farmer in India fails. I faced floods, the fields caught fire. Then I learnt that the day those of us sitting in the city stop asking for coriander for free, the farmer will rise. It means that a lot of hard work goes into growing everything. The day you understand its importance, you will understand every problem of the farmer. Then you will not have to sit on a round table and discuss the suicides of farmers. Nature taught me these things very well through that failure. Today, the farmers who are associated with us are earning many times more profit.

By the way, your decision to take a break from TV has paid off. These days you are playing a variety of roles. How satisfied are you with that?
I am very happy. This year, after Teri Baton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and Rautu Ka Raaz, my third film is coming as Binny and Family. Three seasons of Kota Factory and Yeh Meri Family have been released. The special thing is that now people are seeing me as Rajesh Kumar, not as Rosesh. The makers have gained confidence in me that this guy can do this as well as that. The fact that I was stuck in one genre has gone away.

However, Rosesh’s shadow has not gone away from you. There are many memes about him/her on social media?
Now it is like, Angry Young Man was never published in the name of Bachchan sahab. Rahul was never published in the name of Shahrukh Khan. Letters from late Pankaj Udhas ji have come, have come, keep coming. Nothing can be done about it.