Aug 20, 2026 4:00pm IST
Anirudha Rawal on ‘Awarapan 2’ Debut And the Difference Between Assisting And Acting: ‘As An Actor, You Are Pampered’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Anirudha Rawal has become the latest actor in his family to foray into films with "Awarapan 2," in which he plays Sikandar, a boy on the autism spectrum. He follows parents Paresh Rawal, mother Swaroop Sampath and brother Aditya into acting with the Emraan Hashmi-led film.
Speaking exclusively to Variety India, Rawal says that, initially, it was “intimidating” to get to the “Awarapan 2” set because of “big actors.” But maintains that working with Emraan Hashmi and Disha Patani was easy because they're “extremely cool people to work with.”
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Working on a film that a lot of people are waiting for, is not easy, as “you don't want to mess with their expectations.” He adds, “It's a lot of pressure. Because you don't want to let down your co-actors and the people that have cast you.”
He started out in showbiz as an assistant director (A.D.) on “Sultan” and “Tiger Zinda Hai” and now is an actor. Comparing the two vocations, he says, “When you're an A.D., you're in the dirt, you're sweaty, it's a struggle every day. And this does not have to do with the two movies [I’ve worked on]. It's just general for an A.D. You wake up at 5 o'clock and then you go home at 10-11 o'clock; you’ve barely slept. But as an actor, you're kind of pampered, you're spoiled. There are days when it's rough and tough and you also get abused as an actor. But it's totally different.”
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Talking about how the atmosphere of film sets has changed in the past 10 years since working on the Salman Khan starrer, he says, “It's more genre-based. If you're doing a comedy, the set is going to be a little light. If you're doing a drama, in some scenes, it is going to be a bit intense. 'Sultan' and 'Tiger Zinda Hai' had massive action sequences. Because of safety, you need perfection when you are on those sets. So sometimes when you don't get perfection, there is chaos. Now the ADs are getting better, if anything else.”
The Nitin Kakkar-directed "Awarapan 2" has already soared past ₹100 crore in five days of its release.
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