Kemon achhen?” Rajesh Kumar asks me conversationally. On hearing the response “Maja ma”, he protests: “But I am from Bihar!” and breaks into a smile on being told that his name is connected to the innately Gujarati ambience of the long-running sitcom Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, in which he plays the poetry-spouting Rosesh Sarabhai. The conversation then veers towards his latest outing, Rautu ka Raaz.

You are from Gaya, right?

Yes. I was shooting in Patiala a few days back. They all thought I am from Haryana or Punjab. In Bombay, they take me for a Gujarati or a Parsi. In Delhi, they think I am from Delhi. But no one ever thinks I am from Bihar.

It’s useful as an actor to be like a chameleon, right?

Yes, I am secular. I can pretend to be anything from any part of India. I even played a Bengali in a Doordarshan show long back — Grihdaha by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Whenever I used to go to Calcutta, they used to think I am a Bengali. My grandfather used to read a lot of Bengali novels. He never knew how to speak or write but he could read. My bua is from Benaras and speaks fluent Bengali.

Doordarshan gave us such wonderful sitcoms and such great actors....

Yes, all those actors who you wanted to see in your drawing room... yeh hamare ghar ke sadasya hai.

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai also used to evoke such sentiments.

True.

Coming to Rautu ka Raaz, this is a murder mystery set in a village where crime usually doesn’t happen.

It is a fact that in Uttarakhand there are many pahadi villages where crime is sparse. The reason is the villages are not densely populated. The terrains are uneven and step cultivation takes place. The physical strain is so much that the entire focus is on the hardship — kheti karna hai, paani laana hai, subah uthke shahar jana hai aur shaam tak wapas ana hai... Itni cheezon mein aap uljhe rehte hai toh ek doosre ko leke muskurane ke ilava koi kaam nahin. In such places, even petty crime rate is less, forget murder. When a murder does take place, they try to solve it in their own pace.

Where did you shoot?

We shot in Rautu ki Beli, near Mussoorie in end-2022. The village is famous for paneer. All the paneer in Uttarakhand comes from here. It means Rawat logon ka gaon. The film was initially called that only. But it was changed to Rautu ka Raaz as the audience needs to be told what the film is about.

It adds an element of suspense.

Yes, the journey of the film is the journey of the inspector and his assistant, Negi and Dimri, how they float in that atmosphere.

Talk about your character.

Dimri is a pahadi, very laidback. His only interest is having children. He has five. During the investigation also, half the time he is busy solving problems at home — iss ne uss ko mara…(laughs). He has immense respect for his boss, Inspector Negi. He has complete support for whatever his boss decides.

Is this a hardcore murder mystery or a light-hearted one?

It is a light-hearted suspenseful murder mystery. (Laughs)

What is Narayani Shastri’s role?

She is the one who gets murdered. She is the warden of the school hostel.

This is your second film with Nawazuddin Siddiqui after Haddi.

Yes. The story of the casting is quite interesting. We were shooting in Chhatarpur. Anand Surapur (the director of Rautu ka Raaz) had come to the sets to narrate this film to Nawaz. I was having tea. He passed me by and stopped to ask if I was the guy who played Rosesh. He said he was looking for the second lead and I fitted the bill. On learning that I was free after the project, he said: “Done, you are doing the film.” (Laughs)