A truck driver's daughter Sunita Rajwar says her success still feels like a dream

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jun 7, 2024 18:24 IST

Warm-hearted family drama 'Gullak' is back with its fourth season on SonyLIV. While the story revolves around the Mishra family, the nosy neighbour Bittu ki mummy, played by Sunita Rajwar, is one of the pivotal characters in the drama. Rajwar, who has been working in serials, films, and even part of theatre groups, credits projects like 'Gullak' and 'Panchayat', for her success. In a chat with IndiaToday.in, she also shared how the popularity seems like a dream, given she comes from a humble family with no connection to the film industry.

Given the show revolves around adulting and parenting, we asked Sunita Rajwar how different it was growing up back in the day. "I don't think we were so verbal back then. Be it relationships or any issue, we couldn't talk about it with our parents then. It's become easier now to have an open conversation," she shared.

When asked how she managed to convince her parents to let her take up acting, the 'Bala' actor said, "Honestly, I feel privileged in that aspect. I come from a lower middle-class family, my father was a truck driver, and my mother was a housewife. They were not educated but were broad-minded. They educated us in convent schools, but given I felt that I was an average student, I decided to pursue further education in Hindi medium. I always wanted to know I wanted to do something different but did not know what."

It was during this time that she moved to Nainital for college, where she joined a theatre group. Through the club, she got to know about the option of studying acting in the National School of Drama. "I never knew that you could earn a living through acting. Being in front of the camera was never a dream, I just wanted to act on stage. Also, there was no compulsion of getting 70 per cent marks, it was learning and performing. When I told my parents I wanted to go to NSD, they did not even ask me a single question. They have never stopped me from doing anything, and have always been my biggest support."

While she could not crack the entrance exam on the first go, she tried again, this time her mother also praying for her in a temple. She elaborated, "I come from a family where we were given the best of amenities in the limited finance we had. We were given the hope to dream and the trust to work towards fulfilling it. I remember I started doing odd jobs after my school and I was given that moral support always to be independent. That was the biggest motivating factor."

And thus, when she walked the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival 2024 recently, Sunita Rajwar said how it seemed like a dream to her: "I was completely numb. I have never in my wildest dream imagined to be on such a big platform. As I mentioned, I never thought I could be an actor in films or even serials. This is why it took so much time for me pave my career in the right path, because I did not know what was even happening. I never saw myself in this world. It was only after 'Panchayat' and 'Gullak' I managed to get good work. Being at the Cannes representing a film is yet to sink in, to be honest. It all still feels surreal and like a dream for me."

However, Sunita was quick to also credit her father for the love she has for cinema. "He was a lover of films and would take us to theatres to watch every film that released. He would wear clothes styled like Amitabh Bachchan and Dev Anand. He would get his shoes made by a special shoemaker. He was a shaukeen aadmi (passionate man). My father would get his clothes dry-cleaned and also got home a VCR when it came to the market. He would often watch films at night, and that's how I too started loving cinema, I guess," Rajwar added.

On a final note, when asked what was the first thing, she gifted them after she started working, the actor said with a smile, "Honestly, we didn't have the custom of gifts in our times. For us, getting groceries or paying for our own expenses was a way of giving back to our parents. There was no particular moment but when we became independent, that was the proudest moment for them."

'Gullak' stars Jameel Khan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Vaibhav Raj Gupta and Harsh Mayar.