Rajpal Yadav remembers when 5 lakh people screamed his name during Shool shoot, but the crew didn’t know who he was: ‘Manoj Bajpayee told everyone…’

Rajpal Yadav recalled that when he landed in Bihar to shoot for Shool, the crew was surprised when the crowd that had gathered to watch the filming began screaming his name.

Rajpal Yadav might have gotten a slow start in the movies, but in the late 1990s, the actor experienced his first brush with stardom when he played the lead role in Prakash Jha’s Doordarshan show Mungeri Ke Bhai Naurangilal. The show originated as a sequel to Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne and was a big hit across the country, especially in towns where satellite television was still the dominant medium. It was during this time that the actorwas cast for a one-scene role in the 1999 film Shool, and landed up in Bihar’s Bettiah with Manoj Bajpayee and Raveena Tandon.

Rajpal recalled that a crowd of five lakh people gathered to watch the filming, and police from 15 stations were deployed for security purposes. Manoj’s Bhikhu Mhatre from the film Satya had become hugely popular at the time, and Raveena was already a star, so the crowd went berserk when they saw the two stars. But to everyone’s surprise, the crowd started shouting for ‘Naurangi’ as soon as they spotted Rajpal. He shared with Bollywood Hungama, “The moment I got down, everyone shouted ‘Naurangi’. The unit people were asking ‘Who is Naurangi? The crowd is shouting for Naurangi.’ Manoj bhai told everyone ‘He is Naurangi’.”

Rajpal shared that since the crew was largely from Mumbai and had not seen the show, they were not aware of his popularity. Rajpal recalled that he was cast for the show by Prakash Jha because he was looking or someone like Raghubir Yadav, who played the titular Mungerilal in the original show. When he was finalising his cast, he asked around at the National School of Drama and learnt about Rajpal, who is an alumnus of the institute.

Previously, Manoj had also narrated an incident from the shoot of Shool in Bettiah. He shared with The Lallantop, “I felt like there could have been a riot if people crossed the barricade and came inside. Raveena Tandon was a superstar and was at the top that time. My father also came to see her.” He also spoke about Rajpal and recalled, “After Rajpal Yadav’s first two takes, me and Raveena were very shocked and impressed.”

News Source:- The Indian EXPRESS