Rahul and us

when dushyant wagh, the child actor who played the role of the mentally challenged rahul in the recently released tera mera saath rahen, opens the door of his house, we are greeted by a very tiny boy, his hair neatly cropped and a pair of specs which gives him a very 'studious/good boy'look. we almost do a double take. for a few seconds, we even look above his shoulder to catch a glimpse of rahul who touched our hearts with an endearing performance."hi," says dushyant, breaking into a smile that at once reminds you of rahul. so has he become a child star? do his building and school friends behave differently with him now? does he now get the first chance to bat in a game of cricket? in short, is he getting the attention? "no," he laughs, adding, "it's early i guess. my friends are behaving the same way as before. i am not even getting any special treatment at school. i don't even think people on the road recognise me." the fourteen-year-old dushyant is a student of balmohan vidya-mandir and before we start the interview he candidly admits, "i'm from a vernacular medium." we quickly change our language of conversation and that makes it easier for him to share his thoughts, which these days are happy. ask him if he ever wished that his debut film had him playing a normal boy instead of rahul and he says, "yes, may be. but then anybody could have played normal but it was me who maheshdada (that's the film's director mahesh manjrekar) chose to play rahul. in any case, even if i had to play a normal boy, i would have still danced with joy." talking about how he got the coveted role he says that it was his teacher vidya patwardhan who made it possible. "she encourages kids into dramatics. she told me that maheshdada was making a film and he was sending his assistant director nilesh divekar to our school to select a boy for a role. i was short-listed among 16 to 17 boys and then after a couple of days, maheshdada came to school and chose me." though initially dushyant wasn't aware of the role he was to play, when he finally did, he was happy and proud. "i could sense that rahul was a difficult role. considering i had no previous acting experience apart from a marathi tv serial called de dhamaal and some training in a theatre workshop, i had still got the role. i was happy that maheshdada placed that confidence in me." the selection over, dushyant went to a rehabilitation centre for the physically and the mentally challenged kids in bandra. "i started observing them and picked up a few of their mannerisms." did he model rahul on anybody in particular? "i could not. since the children i saw looked sharp because of their closeness to society. they go to school and lead quite normal lives, so their innocence was slightly lost. whereas rahul has never stepped out of his chawl, forget going to school, so his character was a bit reserved, shy and closed up." he picks scenes in which ajaybhaiyya (ajay devgan) lifts me in his arms in the title song and the scene when he tells me that i have grown up and should do things on my own but i simply grin like a fool as his favourites. when the unit saw the latter scene, they told me, kaay look dila aahe, ekdam baavlat.' (what a look you gave, very foolish)," he laughs. he also adds, "i didn't have any difficulty as such performing the role of rahul except that he doesn't wear specs and i do in real life. so after every scene i would quickly go and wear my glasses for some time." dushyant wagh doesn't really hope to sign more films as "the least i want to do is complete my graduation," he says. "honestly, i am still enjoying my film. i have yet to come out of that experience. i have just no thought about anything else. so i really do not know what i would like to become if not an actor." well, we hope he makes up his mind soon.