In 8 years of Rajkummar Rao’s career span as an actor, he has stood out among all his contemporaries. Even with a boy next door personality in real life, the versatile actor has always convinced us to believe in the character he plays on screen. Rao made his debut with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love, Sex Aur Dhoka. After taking up some small roles and still making his mark in those few minutes, Rajkummar got his big break in Kai Po Che and bagged the best supporting actor award.

Throughout these years, Rajkummar always sought to broaden his horizon as an actor. He has played a terrorist, a starved man, and an abusive husband as convincingly as he did characters of a naïve, small-town guy or a rookie polling official.

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On his 34th birthday, let’s look back at the best films of Rajkummar Rao.

Shahid (2013)- Rajkummar plays the role of Shahid Azmi in this biographical drama, who along with his family is terrorised during the Bombay riots. Shaid is sentenced to jail for seven years under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly conspiring against some politicians. During this period, he makes up his mind to pursue his career in law and eventually starts picking up cases of Muslims charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. While defending a man accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Shahid is shot dead in the court.

Aligarh (2016) – Another biographical drama, based on a true event, which took up the story of a Marathi professor, Ramchandra Siras of Aligarh University who was suspended on the basis of his alleged sexual orientation. Local TV reporters invaded his privacy and filmed him while getting intimate with a rickshaw puller. Rajkummar Rao essayed the role of journalist Deepu Sebastian and took his case to court. Deepu becomes his friend and confidant during the fight against injustice but before his suspension gets revoked Siras is found dead in his house.

Trapped (2016)- The film narrates the story of a bizarre yet unfortunate incident, where a call centre employee, Shaurya, gets trapped in a new house just before he is to elope with his girlfriend. The film takes claustrophobia to another level and features the desperate attempts of the character to escape.

Omerta (2018) – Rajkummar Rao essayed the role of a British terrorist of Pakistani descent Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. The film narrates the stories of some of the deadliest terror attacks in history, such as the 1994 Delhi kidnappings, the 9/11 World Trade Center attack and the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike. Rajkummar as a terrorist is pure evil in the film.

Ami Saira Bano – The actor is leaving no doubts about his skills. This film will mark the debut of Rajkummar in the Bengali film industry and also showcase one of his most challenging roles. The actor will play a eunuch in this project, who is rechristened Saira Bano by the transgender community. Although, the film hasn’t released yet, the character he picked shows how brave Rajkummar is as an actor.