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Rajat does not like himself or his modeling career to be confined under any sexual identity. He just wants to be categorized as a human who has the freedom to pursue anything that he wants to do. Rajat is very comfortable and confident with his sexuality but just thinks that he is not answerable to anyone about it. His comfort lies with the close people in his life, with whom he likes sharing everything about himself. Rajat is a very buoyant, cheerful, and carefree person. He is the kind of person who loves keeping his morale and self-respect above anything else.
Rajat has been doing modeling for the past 5 years. He completed his graduation in Mass Communication but he wants to continue with modeling for now. The journey started from his school days. Offers started coming his way from a very early age when he was in his 11th and 12th standard. But during that time he did not have a lot of exposure. So he did not get a chance to explore himself for various kinds of modeling that he could do. During that time he got offers from big agencies. It was a dream come true moment for him when so many agencies approached him for work.
I went for a test shoot for a big agency. Initially, I was able to impress them. But after I reached there, they asked me about my height. And I was never aware that my height is short enough for a model. So I happily just said it is 5’7. But after that I could notice a dithering expression on their face. I was not able to decipher the reason behind it. Because I was very confident that I will definitely prove to be the best model for them. But they rejected me just by listening to what my height is. That made me feel really bad because I did not even get a chance to prove myself. I know that I am much above this height issue. Height should not be a restrain for the talent and potential I have in me.
It was very tough for him to get work as every agency which used to approach him, rejected him on the basis of his height only. Even the works that he got did not give him much liberty to be himself which Rajat does not appreciate at all. So, now he is mostly doing freelancing as that gives him the autonomy to be himself. Now he does not rely upon any agency, designer, photographer to get work. He works 24*7 for himself as a freelancer.
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Wherever he goes, he is always the talk of the town. During his school days, he was very good at academics as well as co-curricular activities. People used to make fun of him and mock him. He was always told that his face is too pretty for a boy. During his school days, there was very little awareness amongst them. Although he does androgynous fashion he did not even know that a word like that existed back then. But with time and maturity, he learned that people are gonna speak trash about him no matter what. So it is better to be me and enjoy everything I do.
My parents are extremely supportive of whatever I do. They have always motivated and encouraged me to go forward with whatever I feel good about. I wear a saree or anything which is considered to be “feminine”, still, they will never question my sexuality. Rather my mom is the one who taught me to wear a saree. My parents have never been any kind of hindrance in my path of modeling. They totally believe in me and they know that their child will never do anything wrong which goes against family values.
Rajat’s mom is his biggest support system. She always backs him up for whatever he does. He calls himself a typical momma’s boy as he does whatever his mom agrees to. He believes that his mom’s instinct can never go wrong so if she denies doing something, then he simply does not do it.
With time, he had to learn and unlearn so many things which makes him the strong person that he is. Rajat credences that there must be many people like him out there but are not getting the proper exposer or opportunity. So through his work, he wants to influence people that you can be who you are without scaring societal norms. When he realized that people are looking up to him and are getting inspired. That is when he started taking things more seriously and got himself involved in various interviews so that people get to know his side of the story.
I was always aware that I have both masculine and feminine sides in me and I can easily carry any personality. I use to love dancing to item songs and also doing classical dance. But I never performed classical dance in my school because I was too ashamed. People made fun of me even when I am dancing in a conventional manner. People always use to talk bad about me behind my back. But nobody ever dared to say it in front of me because I am not the kind of person who takes people’s bullshit. I always keep myself away from bad things that people talked about me.
He loves acting so he also got into an acting school where he did a diploma in acting for 6 months. He took admission into Sri Ram Centre For Performing Arts before the pandemic. But due to the pandemic, it was hard to continue because of all the restrictions. But he wants to make a career in acting as well. He feels that there is a very wrong kind of representation currently in movies. Some movies make fun out of the trauma that people go through which is wrong on many levels.
He gave the example of Bobby Darling that how she was always wrongly presented and was never portrayed as someone to look up to. He gave some examples of movies and series like Aligarh and Made In Heaven where the representation was good. But he still feels that there is very little representation and it should grow. The movie industry needs to be inclusive of every kind of people from different communities. He also wants to be the first guy item dancer in the movie industry as he loves doing it.
I know that I have a star in me but I would not work for something which goes against my morale or ethics. I have got a lot of big opportunities as well like working in some reality shows. But I declined them because the show’s concept was something I did not belive in or relate to.
I get good offers that will easily bring me fame and Instagram followers but I don’t want to do them if they go against my principles or if I don’t feel right about it.
Rajat is a very competitive person. He is very confident that he can be better than anyone in his field of interest. Criticism never affected him because he is self-aware and knows his potential. Hence, anyone trying to pass on bad comments does not really affect him at all. Rather he laughs them off and thinks that it might be because of their jealousy. He believes that once he starts giving those hate comments the liberty to affect him, it will continue to affect him for life. So he never gives that opportunity to those hate comments to affect his mental health.
I come from a very privileged family that is financially very stable. So my parents never put pressure on me to get financial stability any soon. They just want me to work in whatever my interest lies and not think about finances for now. So, I get to chose my work and do it my way because I do not have that kind of pressure.
In the future, he wants to work for the transgender community because he believes that it is very hard for them to survive in this conservative society. They don’t even get the basic rights that they deserve. People also mistreat them and look down on them so much, which is very disrespectful for such an inspiring community.
Modeling has changed everything in his life. It made Rajat embrace things that he has been hiding for years. Modeling has made him gradually stronger. Each day he explores new things about himself. He is very grateful for the entire journey he has been through which has made him a better person.
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