He took baby steps as an actor, while studying engineering at IIT Kharagpur. He was part of the Hindi Dramatic Society, where he did plays by such stalwarts as Rabindranath Tagore, Vijay Tendulkar and Mahesh Dattani. He informs that Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder used to be his favourite play. It was during his time at the IIT that Jitendra Kumar met Biswapati Sarkar, who would later invite him to join the comedy sketch TVF (The Viral Fever).
The engineer found his calling doing comedy sketches and soon got a huge fan following for his acting in series like Permanent Roommates (2015), TVF Pitchers (2015), TVF Bachelors Season 2 (2017) and Kota Factory (2019) among many more.
Jitu Bhaiya from Kota Factory became one of his most famous online characters. Youngsters took to him because of the benevolent nature of his character, who always looked out for his students. “Most of us are from middle-class backgrounds. There’s tremendous pressure to do well in the exams as parental expectations are high. We tackled all that in the show. Hence it became popular,” he reflects. His decision to quit engineering too wasn’t met kindly by his family. But now they are happy with his success.
Jitendra is a good mimic. His most iconic moment was when he mimicked Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in a TVF video. The video was highly appreciated and gathered 6.1 million views on YouTube. Sometime later, Arvind Kejriwal himself was invited for the episode of a TVF show. Jitendra mimicked Kejriwal again in front of him posing as Arjun Kejriwal, winning praise from the politician.
Jitendra’s foray into Hindi films happened with Gone Kesh (2019), a film about a girl (Shweta Tripathy), who suffers from alopecia, a disease where hair suddenly fall off. “Sadly, few people saw it. I wish more people had seen it,” he rues. His wish for being seen by more people came true with his recent release, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, directed by Hitesh Kewalya and co-produced by Aanand L. Rai. Here Ayushmann Khurrana and he play lovers. The film presents the life of two men in love. It depicts their struggle to convince their families to accept the relationship. Like the majority of people, Jitendra too didn’t know much about homosexuality to begin with. “I was 15-16 when I first came to know about homosexuality. Back then I considered it as a negative and taboo thing,” he confides. His first encounter with homosexuality happened when he was working in Bangalore. “A guy there became a good friend of mine. Later, he expressed his feelings for me. Kindly, I explained to him that I am a straight guy,” reminisces the actor.
He informs that the LGBT community has taken to his performance and he has received appreciation from them. Playing gay characters was a brave decision for both Ayushmann and him. Jitendra agrees it was a risk. He believes the film has come at the right time. It will enable many homosexuals to open up to their parents. Jitendra had no difficulty in working with Ayushmann, since he already knew him. He first met Ayushmann in 2009 at an event at Kharagpur, West Bengal. He met him again when he came to the TVF office to promote his film Nautanki Saala. Jitendra is impressed by the fact that Ayushmann has managed to stay grounded even after huge success. “During the shoot, he would listen to my suggestions despite being such a huge star. He has no airs. We shared a wonderful camaraderie,” adds Jitendra. In fact, the two had a kissing scene in the film, which thanks to the ease between them, appeared real on screen. Jitendra's popularity has increased after doing the film. “Recently, I went to a pub in Powai, which I often visit to chill. The crowd there just gathered around me. I even got hurt by someone’s nails. One girl, who came to click a photo dropped her phone. It broke. It was chaotic,” he recollects. The actor is interested in poetry and is a huge fan of Gulzar. In fact, his Twitter handle reads as @Farzigulzar. “I chose this one as a tribute to the poet I admire the most,” he smiles.
The actor is single and doesn’t want to be in a relationship right now. Though he has some set qualities in mind when it comes to a partner. “There should be compatibility. My partner should accept me as I am. She should have a good sense of humour. I’m looking for an intelligent, motivated and open-minded girl.” Now all he needs is a photo for his Tinder profile...
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