Rajkummar Rao, widely regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation, recently saw his film Stree 2 break several box office records. However, in a recent interview, when asked about his colleagues – Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh – and their status as stars, the CityLights actor admitted that, while he doesn’t personally believe in stardom as a metric, he can’t deny their star power.

During an appearance on Unfiltered by Samdish, Rajkummar praised both Ranbir and Ranveer, calling them “damn good actors”. When asked if some actors frequently receive media attention due to family connections or other reasons, Rajkummar responded, “They are definitely bigger stars, especially Ranbir. Ranveer is also a big star.” He was then asked why he referred to them as stars if he doesn’t consider stardom as a metric. To this, Rajkummar replied, “I don’t see stardom as a metric, but I also can’t deny that it exists.” He elaborated, “When your film Animal is doing Rs 500-600 crore and your next project is Ramayana with Nitesh Tiwari, which is expected to do even more, it makes sense. I also respect them as actors. They deserve where they are. Ranveer especially killed it in Rocky Aur Rani.”

Rajkummar then explained his perspective on stardom: “Stardom could be about how significant a project is based on your presence. If you’re the face of a Rs 200-crore film, that is one of the measure of stardom, I don’t want to do that in my life right now.”

Stree 2, Rajkummar’s most recent release, has been a huge success at the box office, earning Rs 596.87 crore domestically and surpassing Animal, which grossed Rs 553.87 crore in India. Stree 2 also starred Shraddha Kapoor, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee, and Pankaj Tripathi in pivotal roles.

Rajkummar Rao’s latest film Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video is currently running in theatres. The film, however, has received mixed reviews and has shown a somewhat underwhelming performance at the box office.

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