Rajesh Tailang is an Indian actor, director, poet, and writer. He got immense popularity for playing the role of Ramakant Pandit in the Amazon Prime web-series, ‘Mirzapur’ in 2018.
Wiki/Biography
Ritwik was born in 1970 (age 50 years; as in 2020), in Bikaner, Rajasthan. He did his schooling from Sadul Senior Higher Secondary School, Bikaner. He pursued BSc in Mathematics from Dungar College, Bikaner. In 1993, he graduated from the National School of Drama, New Delhi. [1]
Physical Appearance
[2] Height: 6′
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Black
Family, Caste & Wife
He was born in a Hindu family. His father, Shrikrishna Tailang owned a printing press in Bikaner. Rajesh’s grandfather, Pt. Govind Lal Goswami was a table player and a haveli sangeet exponent. His elder brother, Sudhir Tailang was a famous Indian cartoonist, who died on 6 February 2016 due to brain cancer. He is married and blessed with a son Aryaditya.
Career
At the age of 13, he started working as an actor. In 1989, he debuted as an actor in the Doordarshan TV serial, ‘Dhai Akshar’ in which he played the lead role. In 1990, he got selected in the NSD, New Delhi. At that time, he had two options; one was to work in TV serials or to join the National School of Drama. So, he decided to get proper training in acting and joined the NSD in New Delhi. He is a well known Indian theatre artist and has acted in various theatre plays.
After graduating from the acting school in 1994, he was roped in the popular TV serial, ‘Shanti’ in which he played the role of Manu.
When he was asked in an interview, how he got a role in ‘Shanti,’ he said,
After passing out from NSD, I was looking for work. One day, in the NSD washroom, I met a man who asked me if I was an actor. He said they were making a TV show which was India’s first daily show. He was one of the directors of Shanti – Partho Mitra. Partho belonged to Delhi and asked me to meet him at his place in CR Park. Then he called me to Mumbai for an audition at UTV’s office. I went to Mumbai and auditioned. I remember it was raining heavily that day. I gave my audition fully drenched. But, I got the role.”
He has acted in Hindi films, like ‘Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa’ (1998), ‘Dev’ (2004), ‘Mangal Pandey: The Rising’ (2005), ‘Siddharth’ (2013), ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ (2015), ‘Phantom’ (2015), ‘Mukkabaaz’ (2018), ‘Commando 3’ (2019), and ‘Panga’ (2020).
He has worked as a director for the Hindi TV series, ‘India’s Most Wanted’ (1999) aired on Zee TV. He has acted in two Hindi short films, ‘Mast Qalandar’ (2015) and ‘Zoya’ (2016). He has also appeared in a few Hindi web-series, including ‘Mirzapur’ (2018), ‘Selection Day’ (2018), ‘Delhi Crime’ (2019), and ‘Bandish Bandits’ (2020).
He is famous for playing the role of Mahendra Saini in the Indo-Canadian film, ‘Siddharth’ in 2013. Apart from acting in this film, he has written dialogues for the film. He has also worked as a writer for various theatre plays.
Favourite Things
- Actor(s): Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah, and Om Puri
- Director: Kabir Khan
- Novel(s): Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- Film(s): Padosan (1968), Sholay (1975), Cinema Paradiso (1988), Schindler’s List (1993) and all films of Charlie Chaplin
Facts/Trivia
- In an interview, when he was asked how he got an interest in acting, he said,
My father used to take me to the projector room where I have watched a lot of films during my childhood. That’s where my interest in cinema started developing. And then my uncle took all of us kids to perform a play in the colony. That was when I acted for the first time. Then, when I was 14 years old, I attended the summer workshop of NSD which is for kids. After that, I did a couple more workshops and then performed in some plays. Then I joined the amateur theatre. So, that’s how it happened.”
- He was nominated for Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards for the film, ‘Siddharth’ (2013).
- In the National School of Drama, New Delhi, his acting teacher was the veteran Indian actor, Naseeruddin Shah.
- He was the batchmate of the famous TV actor, Anup Soni in the NSD, New Delhi.
- When he was a kid, he clicked a photo with Amitabh Bachchan’s cut out, and later, he got the opportunity to share the screen with him.
- In an interview, he shared that he had decided to leave acting in films once, he further added,
There was a gap in between from 2007 to 2012. I had stopped acting for films and cameras during those five years. I moved to Delhi and had stopped working because of the kind of roles I was getting, I wasn’t happy with that. I decided that I will do theatre and fully concentrate on that. Along with that, I had started teaching at NSD. Also, I wrote some 18 plays during that time. And then I traveled with my plays all around the world during that period. Later after those five years, when Richie came to me with Siddharth, that’s when I broke my sabbatical.”
- He has a YouTube channel, ‘YouTube talkies’ in which he uploads short films.
- He is an avid dog lover and owns a pet dog, Inca.
- His hobbies include writing poetry, doing photography, going to forest tours, and listening to music. In an interview, he said,
Acting is my first love and wildlife is second. I go to forest tours, watch a lot of documentary on wildlife and read a lot about nature conservation et cetera. It is one of the subjects that constantly fascinate me, apart from acting.
- In 2020, he released his book on poetry, ‘Chaand Pe Chai.’