Jeetu Bhaiya from Kota factory or simply Jeetu from Bachelors, this civil engineer turned actor has made a special place in the hearts of the audience with his stellar performances over the years. Jitendra Kumar, has carved a niche for himself in this dynamic show business.
Born in Khairtal, Rajasthan this 32 year old actor is an alumni of IIT Kharagpur where he did his degree in civil engineering before switching his career to become an actor. He always had a knack for the performing arts and has taken part in a number of acts and plays while studying at IIT.
Kumar took part in a number of street plays as the Governor of the Hindi Technology Dramatics Society, where he met Biswapati Sarkar, Executive Creative Director and Writer at The Viral Fever who later invited him to join TVF in 2012.
Kumar had his fair share of struggle as an outsider in the industry, after moving to Mumbai, he worked on acting assignments from Monday to Friday to help pay his bills, while providing physics and chemistry tuitions on weekends. Biswapati, who was also his college senior was one of the writers of the 2014 movie “Shuruaat Ka Interval”, where Jeetendra bagged a role. his role as the intern in Munna Jazbaati: The Q-tiya Intern in 2013 which surpassed 3 million views on YouTube after its release was the initial turning point in his career.
His journey as a leading web series actor began after he starred in popular shows like Permanent Roommates, TVF Pitchers, TVF Bachelors. His break through performance was in the lack and white series “Kota Factory” where he played IIT coaching instructor and came to known by his character name, “Jeetu Bhiaya”. His character made a place in the audiences’ hearts and has been an inspiration for many.
Jitendra Kumar’s journey as an OTT star is at its peak with his role as the lead, Abhishek Tripathi in the Amazon original series, “Panchayat”, where he plays the secretary of the Panchayat office, in a village called Phulera.
The series received immense love from the audience and monumental for him. In an exclusive interview with Filmfare, he said, “It is a very big and unique show and that kind of show becoming so successful gives me a lot of confidence. Panchayat’s success just gives me more confidence to tell deeper stories, the ones which have never been told before and have a bit of the risk factor. I want to work on stories that are not necessarily trendy or don’t have a trend.”
In 2020, Jitendra made his breakthrough in the limelight with his role as a gay man, Aman Tripathi in “Shubh Mnagal Zyada Savdhaan” opposite Ayushmann Khurrana. The movie was a super hit and was also a critics favourite. “I strongly feel that we need to talk regularly about the community to normalise. The discomfort will go away as and when it reaches more and more people.”, the actor told Filmfare.
He received Filmfare OTT Awards Best Actor (Comedy) in 2020 for Panchayat.
This IITian turned actor has come a long way in the industry and continues to give impeccable performance both on OTT and the big screen.