Rahul Roy

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

The entire ’80s decade was dominated by action movies featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Mithun Chakraborty. Mithunda also ushered in the disco fever and mixed dance with action successfully to churn out some big hits. Romantic films were hardly attempted then until Nasir Husain’s Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, featuring newcomers Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla reversed the trend. Sooraj Barjatya came in next with his blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) and suddenly, musical love stories became a rage.

Keeping with the new trend, noted director Mahesh Bhatt, known for his intense sensitive films like Arth (1982), Saaransh (1984), Naam (1986) and Thikana (1987), decided to make a commercial romantic movie with newcomers. He first signed the Delhi based model Anu Aggarwal as the lead actress. The search for the male lead was still on. It was this time he went to congratulate Indira Roy for appearing in the prestigious Savvy magazine. This is where he spotted one of her twin sons Rahul Roy and getting impressed by his looks and unique hairstyle, decided to cast him as the hero.

Rahul Roy was born on 9th February, 1968 to Indira, a charity worker for UNICEF and Deepak Roy, a businessman. Not many know that Rahul Roy has a twin brother Rohit Roy, who is twenty-five minutes younger than him.

Though born in Mumbai, Rahul grew up in Delhi as his father was a well-known business man in the capital. After completing his graduation, he started working with his father and met fashion designer late Rohit Khosla, who suggested modelling as a career. Rahul Roy was in his early twenties when he was spotted by famous designer Hemant Trivedi, who offered him a prestigious modelling assignment in Mumbai. This was like a God send opportunity for Rahul as his future lay in Mumbai.

When Mahesh Bhatt offered him Aashiqui (1990), Rahul accepted it immediately without even asking for the script. The movie was made in record time on a limited budget. At the time of its release, no one knew about the film’s lead pair as Bhatt used a unique promotion strategy by hiding the couple’s face and showing them romancing behind a coat on the film’s poster. The curiosity factor worked big time and coupled with its blockbuster music, the audience lined up outside the theatres screening Aashiqui to see who are these debutants.

The film started with a shadow playing a guitar to the tune of ‘Saanson ki jarurat hai jaise’ and when the camera flashed on Rahul Roy, the audience went crazy in cinemas with claps and whistles resounding all over. This was the start of Rahul Roy’s stardom in very first minute of the film.

Those days, there were fans of newcomers Aamir Khan and Salman Khan but Rahul Roy made his own mark as well. There would be rivalry between the females living under same roof as to whose poster should be on their wall – Aamir, Salman or Rahul. Male fans loved Rahul’s hairstyle which became the latest fashion of that time. Hairdressers charged a premium to give you the Rahul Roy cut!!

Naturally, most filmmakers wanted Rahul Roy in their movie and he ended up signing about fifty films within a short period – a record at that time!! Soon enough, a new law was passed by the Film association that an actor could sign only eleven films at a time and so, Rahul had to actually return back signing amount of more than twenty-five films to comply with this rule.

After Aashiqui, Rahul Roy’s next release was B. Subhash’s production Pyaar Ka Saaya (1991) with Sheeba and Amrita Singh as his co-actors. An unofficial remake of the Hollywood hit Ghost (1990); Rahul played a ghost in the film who tries to protect his wife from his evil cousin Mohnish Bahl. The film’s treatment was too westernized for the Indian audience and Pyaar Ka Saaya failed miserably at the box office.

Starting 1992, Rahul had five big films lined up for release – the first being Gajab Tamaasa directed by yesteryear villain Ranjeet who repeated the Aashiqui pair by casting Anu Aggarwal as Rahul’s heroine. The film became a box office disaster and the last time, the two worked together.

The same year, his other films like Sapne Saajan Ke, Jaanam and Dilwale Kabhi Na Hare too failed at the box office. His notable release in 1992 remained Mahesh Bhatt’s Junoon, which was much anticipated before its release for its theme based on An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. Rahul Roy was cast opposite Pooja Bhatt as a cursed man who turns in to a human eating tiger at midnight. After a series of flops, Junoon’s success managed to salvage Rahul’s career to some extent.

However, Rahul’s line-up for 1993 were all box office disappointments like the multistarrer Game with Naseeruddin Shah and Aditya Panscholi, Bhookamp with veteran Jeetendra and Mamta Kulkarni and Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Ayee which premiered directly on Zee TV. The songs of this movie by Anu Malik were much appreciated but audience found the movie extremely boring.

Gumrah was one movie from mentor Mahesh Bhatt which Rahul Roy was heavily banking on to revive his fledgling career. The film had Sridevi in the central role with Rahul Roy playing the lead in a negative role and Sanjay Dutt in a cameo. Unfortunately for Roy, there were many changes made during the filming/ post-production and the final cut which released in theatres, had Rahul Roy’s role reduced to a cameo while Sanjay Dutt’s role was increased to main lead. Rahul’s career got severely affected due to this film though it was a commercial success.

Until the late ’90s, Rahul Roy continued to play the lead in films like Hanste Khelte (1994), Yeh Majhdhaar (1996), Megha (1996) and Dharma Karma (1997) but box office success eluded him. He tried out character roles as well in Achanak (1998) and Naseeb (1997), both starring Govinda, but even these movies flopped badly.

By the present millennium, movie offers had almost dried up for Rahul Roy and so, he decided to switch to television and appeared in shows like Kaise Kahoon (2001) and Karishma: Miracles of Destiny (2004) but even this switch couldn’t help him regain his lost stardom.

Rahul continued to act in some lesser known B grade films like Bipasha- The Black Beauty (2006), Naughty Boy (2006), Phir Tauba Tauba (2008) and Ada (2011). He also featured in regional cinema like Elaan (2011) in Bhojpuri with superstar Manoj Tiwari and Chhava (2006), a Marathi film with Makarand Anaspure.

In 2005, Rahul Roy appeared in Meri Aashiqui with a controversial plot where his character falls in love with his daughter’s friend. This film, though critically panned, is said to have done well in small centres.

While being part of the B-grade brigade, Rahul managed to get into the Bigg Boss house in its very first season and emerged to be the winner of the show. The Bigg Boss win was expected to revive his Bollywood career but sadly, no significant offers came his way and he stuck to small films and television shows only. One of his major television appearances happened in early 2020 in The Kapil Sharma show where he was joined by his Aashiqui co-stars Anu Aggarwal and Deepak Tijori to mark thirty years of the iconic film.

The following year in 2021, while he was shooting in Kargil for the film L.A.C at minus thirteen degrees, Rahul Roy suddenly collapsed on the sets and was taken to the hospital where doctors confirmed that he had suffered from brain stroke. He was immediately rushed to Mumbai’s Nanavati hospital in an unconscious state where he was in coma for a month and later, showed signs of slow recovery. Rahul spent several months in hospital and was on very high medication. During his hospital stay, his sister Priyanka (Hari Maa) was all the while with him and took care of every small thing while Priyanka’s husband Roomer Sen and brother Rohit Roy were also huge support system, as Rahul mentioned later.

After fighting his battle with death, Rahul Roy is on the road to full recovery and started work again though he has few health restrictions and limitations now.

On the personal front, Rahul Roy was once married to super model Rajalakshmi Khanvilkar but in 2014, they parted ways. He had always been close to his mother Indira and published her young picture on his Instagram page on her recent birth anniversary.

Pre-Covid, Rahul Roy was regularly spotted taking early morning walks at Shivaji Park which is near his residence. Though he has started his fitness regime again, he isn’t seen there anymore.

Coincidentally, the lead pair of Aashiqui – Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal- have fought death and emerged as winners. Kudos to both and we wish to see them together on big screen one more time. An Aashiqui sequel probably!!