Excited about his debut film with senior actors, he says, “I play a newly posted senior cop who is assigned to clean up the mafia from the region. Working with senior actors like Govind Namdev, Mukesh Tiwari, Zarina Wahab and Hemant Pandey was the biggest learning for a newcomer like me. They are like an institution and their guidance is better than any learning school.”

Remembering an incident, he says, “When we were shooting the climax scene of Purvanchal Files, I was a little unsure how to go about it. Mukesh sir, having 25 years of experience, literally showed me how to do it and eventually the act came out very well. My prepration about the Eastern UP language conducted by Swarup (Ghosh, director) sir helped me a lot.”

Before his film, he started with regional projects. “I come from Jammu and shifted with my parents to Hyderabad in 2019. I wanted to become an entrepreneur but during the pandemic, inspired by the film Dhoni: The Untold Story, I decided to become an actor and started preparing myself and giving auditions.”

On the suggestion of Tamil director Ravi Rahul, he dropped his surname (Gupta) and used initial (R) of his mother’s name. “That’s how it works down south. Ravi sir started a small budget film, but it got shelved. He then cast me in Ravaali with Naira Shah and we hope that it will come up after the release of my Hindi film. I learnt Tamil for these films and took proper training in Chennai.”

Expecting the release of his film, later this year, he is in talks for other Hindi projects. “There is a film and a series but till it happens, there is no point talking about it. My first film was shelved and the second is yet to release, so I have become superstitious now (smiles).”