‘My cricket training has been going on for months. It was difficult to learn to play left-handed.’

With Toaster, his first release of the year, Rajkummar Rao kicks off 2026 on an exciting note.

As he balances a lighter workload with more meaningful choices, he opens up about returning to comedy, preparing for big roles, and what this new phase of his career looks like.

“I’m making a conscious effort to slow down my work. The plan is to do two films a year,”  “but, of course, never say never. If there’s a really exciting script with a great filmmaker I might do one more.”

Toaster is your first release this year, are you feeling anxious?

Toaster is my first release and I’m excited about it. It’s a quirky fun film, a dark comedy—something that I enjoy doing as an actor.

No, it doesn’t make me anxious. Actually I’m very excited because I am coming back in a comedy after almost a year. Also, since this is Kampa’s first production that Patralekhaa has produced, it makes it even more special.

Before 2026, you had a plethora of releases. Have you slowed down deliberately?

I’m making a conscious effort to slow down my work. The plan is to do two films a year but, of course, never say never. If there’s a really exciting script with a great filmmaker I might do one more, but this is the plan as of now.

So this year there is Toaster, then there will be Raftaar which is our first theatrical production. Then there will be Nikam my next biopic after Srikanth.

After that there’ll be a long gap before Dada releases. So the plan is to do lesser work but work that I really enjoy doing and which excites me as an actor. I get a lot of prep time because I want to do challenging work now.I want to do work that scares me, that makes me nervous. There’s a lot of prep that is required, so that’s the plan.

You are playing Sourav Ganguly. Is that a big responsibility?

Of course, that’s a big responsibility. There’s a lot of preparation that was needed. My cricket training has been going on for months. It was difficult to learn to play left-handed.

I like working on the detailing for my characters, so I watched hours and hours of his videos.

I also met him, spent time with him, got to know him, asked him a lot of questions. When you do a biopic a lot of research is required.

Playing Dada comes with a big responsibility as he changed the way Indian cricket team functions.

There’s a lot of homework that’s needed and it’s exactly what I’ve done with Dada. I am extremely excited about it. Little nervous also, but excited to portray his inspiring life on screen.

Could you sum up your slate of releases this year?

Toaster is special in many ways. It’s our first production under Kampa Films. Patralekhaa has produced it. And I’ve so many friends who are in the film. It’s a light hearted comedy that I am sure will connect with people.

After Toaster it’s Raftaar which is our first theatrical film, then Nikam which is also completed. It is a biopic of Mr Ujjwal Nikam.