Actor Jitendra Kumar has been starring in comedy sketches for years now. He was the star of multiple short videos for The Viral Fever, where he portrayed characters called Jeetu, Munna Jazbaati, Gittu, and Kejriwal. Before 2020, the actor was primarily known on social media as Jeetu Bhaiya from Kota Factory.
And then, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan happened, and catapulted him to horizons unknown. A path breaking film in Bollywood history, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan was about the relationship between Kumar’s and actor AK’s characters. The two even share multiple kisses on screen, which was a turning point for how homosexual relationships have been portrayed on the big screen so far.
“They wanted a fresh face and thankfully, Kota Factory was popular and at its peak. I did the reading. When they called me to tell me I’ve been selected, I heard that even Ayushmann was keen that “Jeetu hi chahiye”. So, I am thankful to Ayushmann as well,” Kumar had said earlier in an MW interview.
Following his role in the movie, Kumar bagged roles in Amazon Prime’s Panchayat, for which he won a Filmfare OTT award in the category of “Best Actor Comedy Series (Male)”.
Kumar is also modest to a fault, much like Khurrana, who is Bollywood’s current flavour of the season. He is also vocal about his rapport with Gajraj Rao, and how he looks up to him. “When I met him during TVF, I was so new, but after three or four episodes, he met me outside for tea. He never has an attitude and never builds that senior-junior gap. In fact, he reduces that gap by talking to juniors, and wants to learn from them. He’s built a rapport with me in a way that I can tell him when I don’t like something. To achieve this space with anyone is difficult, and he has been in the industry for 25 years. So, to give that space to a new guy is huge,” Kumar had added about his relationship with veteran actor Gajraj Rao.
It remains to be seen what Kumar comes up with next, given his versatile choice of projects. He did a show on Netflix titled Chaman Bahar, which was released in 2020, and has an upcoming release titled Jadoogar.
