The curious rise of Raghav Juyal: From slow-mo walks to scene-stealing villainy

Raghav Juyal’s journey of dancing his way into acting and taking over the screen is the stuff dreams are made of.

Who would’ve imagined that a kid from Uttarakhand would one day teach the world how to do a slow-motion walk or make us love to hate a charmingly twisted dacoit? But that’s exactly what Raghav Juyal has done. With a journey that began on a dance reality show over a decade ago, Raghav has quietly, almost unexpectedly, carved a space for himself in Indian pop culture.

When he first appeared on television in 2012, he wasn’t your typical dance show contestant. With his unusual style, quirky expressions, and a now-iconic slow-mo walk, he didn’t just perform - he stood out. It wasn’t long before audiences took notice. Crockroaxz, the pseudonym he gave himself, gave a whole new spin to the word cockroach transforming it from something we feared to something we laughed with, admired, and remembered. But while his dance moves grabbed attention, it was his screen presence that made him a household name. As a host on dance reality shows, Raghav became more than just an anchor. He brought heart and humour to the screen, where he was able to swing between comic relief and emotional vulnerability with ease. His wit was unscripted, his empathy palpable. At a time when reality TV was saturated with rehearsed glamour, Raghav was refreshingly real.

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Still, no one quite expected the comic powerhouse to take such a sharp left turn into playing an unhinged villain. While he'd acted before in films like Remo D’Souza’s dancing franchise ABCD or Sonali Cable, he held his own alongside established stars like Varun Dhawan and Ali Fazal. But it was his role as Fani in Kill that truly changed the game. He was unpredictable, magnetic, and terrifying in a way that kept you watching. You hated him but you couldn’t look away. There was an offbeat charm to his chaos and Raghav balanced it with such precision that the character that worked on the brink never tipped into parody or over performation. And the buzz for his acting chops that followed was well-earned. Anybody who’d watched the film couldn’t stop talking about him and was struck by how seamlessly he embodied someone so far removed from his real-life persona while adding that into the character. 

And his recent work, in titles like Gyaarah Gyaarah and Yudhra, only affirms that his acting, just like his dancing, carries its own spin to it in his unique signature style. In Gyaarah Gyaarah, he explored a different space than playing an unhinged criminal, while Yudhra built on his growing image as a layered antagonist. Though the series was interesting in itself, offering him to delve deeper into being a cop, the film itself didn’t land perfectly. But Raghav manages to leave a lasting impression in both with his performances never screaming for attention but simmering slowly pulling you in.

To think all this has happened in just over 15 years is remarkable. From dancer to choreographer and anchor to actor, Juyal’s journey feels less like a straight path and more like an improvisational piece - unpredictable, unconventional, and more than anything, inspiring, pushing you to dream a dream too! Here’s to the force of nature that is Juyal whose next move, much like his slow-mo walk, we can’t help but wait for!

Happy happy birthday, you star!

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