He took the ramp by storm in the 1990s with his smoldering good looks and perfect body, reigning as one of India’s top notch models, till he left for pastures new and green — the world of films. Arjun Rampal, then did the unthinkable — instead of cashing on his good looks, he chose a completely off beat film Moksh shot partly in black and white, starring as a disillusioned attorney who quits the legal system to pull off a heist at a bank so he could help the needy fight their legal battles. What stands out in the film is the James Deanish intensity he brings to his performance that is mercifully underplayed, especially in the taut emotional scenes where most Indian films make their actors beat their chest and ham it up.
Then followed the usual commercial formula films like Pyar Ishq Mohabbat and Deewanapan capped by the latest offering, the unusually successful thriller Ankhen in which Arjun co starred with Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. Even when some of the films didn’t do as well at the box office Arjun stood out. Touted once as the handsomest man alive by the Washington Post, Arjun Rampal, stays strongly grounded, warm and genuinely humble. “I come from a very simple god fearing family. My mom has taught me that love is the strongest emotion and that never turn anyone away; her’s was an open house and heart and so is mine.”
You took a long time to decide to act in films from the time you received cinematographer now director Ashok Mehta’s offer to do the lead in Moksh?
Yes more than a year. Ashok Mehta and I first met while I was modeling a product that was being directed by Shekhar Kapur. At that time Shekhar’s movie The Bandit Queen had come out and he was very excited about it. We spent ten days together and that’s when Ashok ji saw me and gave me the script of Moksh. I was not into acting at all at that time, but when I read the script it really did impact me. It was written so well that you could actually visualize the whole story, but I was going abroad to model for a year and he said, that’s okay, even I need time to put everything together. You come back and see how you feel after a year. I was in New York and modeling there and had a lot of friends studying at NYU and I started watching films with them, and came back very intrigued. When I returned I decided to give the movie a shot and once we started shooting I realized I really enjoyed being an actor.
You didn’t play safe and chose a very non-commercial subject in Moksh, where your role had a lot of shades of gray. For a model with no background in acting you did an amazing job, with subtlety and excellent voice modulation.
There was and is this strong stigma, which is so unfair that models can’t act. So I chose a film, which was not very commercial, but had a scope for doing a lot. I prefer doing intense roles myself personally. So that’s why I chose Moksh as my debut film. I knew the treatment that was going to happen and was very excited about the fact that the film was to be shot in black and white. When you come from an industry of fashion you look at all these aesthetic points, because you do so many stills and frames and so on. Ashokji was very sure about the graph of the character, how he was going to shoot his film and that is really the key point. You want the director to have a lot of clarity and then eventually what happens to the film is not in your hands.
As for the acting, I can’t take all the credit to myself. Models are so raw; we come into an industry, which we don’t know anything about. So it is extremely critical that the hands you fall into are competent hands. Luckily for me I had the right people backing me. Ashok Mehta was making his directorial debut but he is a very seasoned and experienced part of the industry as a cameraman with films like 36 Chowringee Lane, Bandit Queen, Ram Lakhan, Saudagar and now Ankhen. As a model I didn’t take either the image or myself seriously. I wouldn’t diet or spend 5 hours at the gym. I worked with like-minded people who believed like I did that fashion was fun, a celebration of clothing. I come from a very simple background and I like simplicity. Even in films most of the time people end up doing too much to what could be projected simply. And that’s why I like to play my characters as close to real life as possible.
Are you a director’s actor or do you change things when you feel something is not right in the way you are being directed?
I think all actors are directors’ actors. An actor has to be creative, but he can underplay or overplay his role, so a director has to control that. Yet it’s very important for a director to have clarity; it pays to believe in some directors, while others teach you not to ever believe in them again! So it’s extremely important that you also know what you are doing. I can only work with people who don’t have ego hassles about getting input from others. There are definitely times you differ from the director’s perspective and realize later that your perception was right, and tell the director I told you so and now it’s too late. I work a lot on my role in the beginning so that I know what I am going to do. Once it goes on the floor I try to look at the entire film and how it is shaping up, but I don’t believe in interfering then. I ask all the questions beforehand. Unfortunately in our country things are not so professional. A lot of the directors are not even ready with their scripts when they approach you. Now I insist on a full script. It makes it easier on everybody and I feel that if I put that pressure on a prospective director it will help him as well, because when he creates a script and goes through the technicalities he too will have a clearer picture of what he is trying to make.
You seem to have made a conscious effort not to sign too many films, unlike others who sign anything and everything especially when they are making a foothold in the industry.
Well you want to continuously evolve and I feel for an actor to really grow from one level to another is to do limited work. We tend to overload ourselves so much that we lose touch with what is most important, to observe life and learn from it. You don’t get time to reflect. I do less work but the work I want to do. The day I started acting I left modeling. A model trains differently, is more focused on his appearance, so automatically he looks at a camera differently and brings a certain amount of stiffness in his persona. An actor however has to get under the skin of a character and become that person. I had to reorganize the way I looked at the camera. I still feel I was a little stiff in the first few scenes in Moksh, but Ashokji calmly eased me into the role. Luckily for me the movie took a long time to make and so I could study and understand the medium more.
Do you like doing multi-starrers? Do you feel short changed at times like it happened in Ankhen? You starred with Amitabh Bachchan, Akhshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, all senior to you and it seemed that though you stood out your role was pretty small compared to the others.
When you do multi-starrers the plus is you get to interact with so many actors and learn so much from them and when the movie does well everyone benefits. What happened with Aankhen was that unfortunately a lot of my scenes and my role were cut off. The film had gotten too long. Mine was the romantic lead and a crucial song was cut as well. Initially I was so disheartened because you give so much of your time, your energy to a role only to wonder why the director gave you a raw deal, but then the movie is a hit and at the end of the day that is what matters.
Which are your forthcoming films?
There is one film that is coming out in a couple of months. It’s called Dil Hai Tumhara with Preity Zinta. I’m playing a nerdy kind of guy, a comic character, but its one of those films where there are times when you think you are doing something different and then you are all excited while doing it, yet when you see the final rushes you wonder oh my God should I have really done this? So I’m trying to prepare my fans in advance … this character has no remote resemblance to me as a person. There is however a film Dil Ka Rishta with Aishwarya Rai, which is a lovely soft romantic film, written by her mother and I am excited about it and of course with Rajiv Rai, I’m doing an action film Asambhav that’s totally up my league