It’s been a long journey in Bollywood for Arjun Rampal since his modelling days. Ahead of the release of his film Roy, the actor-producer says that he had been written off as an actor initially. “I remember when I had come to Mumbai to make it into Bollywood; I first met a socialite who asked me, ‘Do you know Milind Soman? He is a big model… I do not think you will ever be able to make a place for yourself even in the modelling field.’ But I was of the opinion that Mumbai was very spacious and would surely accommodate a newcomer like me.
“No sooner did I get a little bit of recognition in the field of glamour, this same socialite invited me for dinner at her place. She also told me that Milind Soman would be among the guests. I then told her, ‘Tumhara ghar Mumbai se bhi bada ho gaya? (Your house has become bigger than Mumbai now?)’ Though I did not go for the party but later we became friends.. “I have been in films like, Rock On, which fetched me a National Award too; D-Day’s character was also very different. In Om Shanti Om, I had to play a character which starts from the age of 30 and goes up to 60-65. I just could not apply ‘chalk’ to my hair and perform the character. Gone are the days when films were made with triangles and quadrangles,” he laughs.
When it comes to family life, Arjun says he loves his kids and believes in spoiling them once in a while, “I could not make out how fast my kids grew up… Especially my daughter who has turned 13 now, she has grown so tall.. A few years ago I would carry her in my lap.” Do they have the acting gene in them? “Definitely, they enjoy dancing and participating in school plays. They also get very upset if they are given less dialogues or stage space.”
“When I am home, my kids are off to school, we rarely meet on a daily basis owing to our schedules. However, the days we are together are the ‘holidays’. While they are shopping on the Internet, they come to me as they need my credit card. This is the moment when they have me around their little finger. It’s okay to spoil them sometimes,” he adds.
