Rajesh Tailang

Rajesh Tailang is an Indian actor, known for his appearance in films and web series.^[2][3] He garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards.^[4] He is also a poet, showcasing his creativity beyond acting.^[5] He is the brother of late cartoonist Sudhir Tailang.

Rajesh Tailang
Rajesh Tailang with Best Film Award for Siddharth at Beijing Film Festival 2014
Born	(1973-10-10) 10 October 1973 (age 51) [1] Bikaner, Rajasthan, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actor
Notable work	Siddharth

Early life

Tailang was born in Bikaner, Rajasthan to late Shrikrishna Tailang.^[6][7] His brother late Sudhir Tailang was a Padma Shri recipient famous political cartoonist. Rajesh is an alumnus of National School of Drama.^[8]

Career

Early work (1994-2007)

He started his acting career 1994 with a DD National first daily soap Shanti - Ek Ghar Ki Kahani.^[9][10] His first film was Govind Nihlani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa.^[11] Later he acted in films like, Jayate…, Thakshak, Dev, Mangal Pandey and Amal and few TV serials and Telefilms.^[10][12]

Mainstream success (2013- present)

In 2013, he gained mainstream recognition with the film Siddharth directed by Richie Mehta , for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for best actor in a leading role.^[13] The film was well-received by various international film critics, who praised Rajesh's performance.^[14][15][16] In 2015, he appeared in several notable projects, including Umrika, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Phantom.^[17][18] He continued to build his filmography with roles in Omerta, Mukkabaaz, Haseena Parkar, Aiyaari. His portrayal of Ramakant Pandit in the web series Mirzapur, Mohan Kumar in Netflix series Selection day, Bhupendra Singh in Delhi Crime and Rajendra Rathore in Bandish Bandits significantly increased his popularity through OTT space.^[19][20][21] Later he appeared in films like Commando 3, Panga, Comedy Couple, Pagglait, Khuda Hafiz 2, Chhatriwali, Ulajh.^[20][22][23] He continued his OTT journey with series Rangbaaz, Dahan, Crackdown, Trial by fire.^[24][25]

Book

Tailang authored the book Chand Pe Chai, which was published by Vani Prakashan in 2022.^[26][27]

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	…Jayate	Advocate Nayyer
1998	Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa	Somu's Father
1999	Thakshak	Randheer
2004	Dev	ACP Waman Bhonsle
2005	Mangal Pandey: The Rising	Brahmin Sepoy of India
2007	Amal	Dhaba Owner
2013	Siddharth	Mahendra Saini	[28]
2015	Umrika	Postman
	The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	Babul
	Phantom	Raw Agent Alok
2017	Haseena Parkar	Advocate Shyam Keswani	[29][30]
2018	Omerta	General Mahmood
	Mukkabaaz	Shravan's Father	[31]
	Aiyaary	Brigadier K Srinivas
2019	Commando 3	Roy
2020	Panga	National Coach Sinha
	Comedy Couple	Mukesh
2021	Pagglait	Tarun	Netflix Release
	Andaman	UPSC Interview panel chairman	Open Theater
2022	Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 – Agni Pariksha	TV News Reporter Ravi Kumar
2023	Chhatriwali	Rajan Kalra	[32]
2024	Kooki	Dhanajay Mishra
	Ulajh	Salim Sayeed	[33][34]

Short films

Year	Films	Role	Director
2015	Mast Qalandar	Master	Divij Roopchand
2016	Zoya (Short)	Zoologist	Sahirr Sethhi
2024	Ek Kadam	Mahendra Solanki	Rajeev Upadhyay

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Platform
1995	Shanti	Manu	Doordarshan
2018–present	Mirzapur	Ramakant Pandit	Amazon Prime Video
2018	Selection Day	Mohan Kumar	Netflix
2019–present	Delhi Crime	Bhupender Singh	Netflix
2020	Crackdown	Ashvini Rao	Voot
2020	Bandish Bandits	Rajendra	Amazon Prime Video
2021	Dhindora	Parshad	YouTube
2022	Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya	Parimal Singh	Disney+ Hotstar
	Rangbaaz	Mukul Kumar	Zee5
2023	Trial By Fire	Veer Singh	Netflix
2024	Gaanth Chapter 1 - Jamnaa Paar	Trilok Mishra	JioCinema
2025	Bada Naam Karenge	Rajesh Jaiswal	SonyLiv

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Film/web	Category	Result	Ref.
2014	Canadian Screen Awards	Siddharth	Actor in a Leading Role	Nominated
2022	Filmfare OTT Awards	Rangbaaz	Best Supporting Actor (Drama)	Nominated	[35]