ARJUN RAMPAL DISCUSSES HIS DEEP DESIRE TO TAKE ON ACTING CHALLENGES
In terms of challenges and variety of roles, this is perhaps the most interesting phase of Arjun Rampal’s career.
The talented actor is taking on dramatically different characters in diverse genres that are showing off his impressive range and keeping him firmly out of his comfort zone. This remarkable adaptability is demonstrated by upcoming projects that include an action entertainer, period epic, horror film and portraying a real historical ruler.
Someone clearly in love with his craft, he is embracing the demanding schedules with open arms and was in good spirits when Eastern Eye caught up with him on a rare day off.
He spoke about subjects including his love for acting, secret of a good performance, forthcoming films, personal hero and escaping any heartthrob image.
How do you sum up your action-packed journey?
Well, I wish it was that easy to just sum it up. I think it’s just been, I don’t know how to explain it, enriching, enlightening, and a huge learning experience. You know you’re constantly learning every day and just fall more in love with the craft. So, that’s how it has been.
What would you say acting means to you today?
Well, it is very deep and intense. It’s something which you can’t just take for granted or dive into. It’s something which kind of helps you to get to know yourself better and be a lot more aware about everything around you. It allows you to be more sensitive, caring and generally awake, and alive. That’s what I think it means to me.
Is it a coincidence that all your projects have been so dramatically different to each other in recent years?
I mean it’s not been calculated, but it’s definitely been a deliberate decision to do that. I’m kind of a person who really gets bored of repetition and being repetitive. I think in order to really grow one can’t create a comfort zone. You know the minute you kind of create that comfort zone for yourself and get too complacent or comfortable in any position, I think at that point in time you start getting bored really fast. And not being sharp enough to be motivated or excited. You stop enjoying every moment of that journey you’re supposed to have. So yes, to me it is just about getting myself out of the comfort zone.
It seems like you have spent a lot of your career trying to run away from your heartthrob and pin-up image that many have always associated with you since your modelling days. Is that fair to say?
It’s interesting you say that, Asjad. Yeah, I guess so and you’re probably right. It’s the same thing you know about not wanting to get into a comfort zone or space. Also, I was never comfortable with being called ‘sexiest man alive’, sex symbol, eye candy and all that. Those kind of words really scare me.
Would you tell us something about your forthcoming Telugu film Hari Hara Veera Mallu?
So right now, I’m shooting for my first South film, with (writer-director) Krish Jagarlamudi. Pawan Kalyan is in it as well. It’s a period Telugu drama and I’m playing a real-life character. In fact, I am playing the part of Aurangzeb. It’s a completely commercial project and absolutely fictitious.
Tell us about some of your other forthcoming projects?
Then I go onto a film with Vidyut (Jammwal) next month, which I’m training for right now. It’s an action-packed film titled Crack, which is directed by Aditya Datt, same guy who did Commando 3. After that I go into another very big action film again. There is also The Battle of Bhima Koregaon, which I started filming, and it’s a period drama based on true events. Then I go into a horror film, which I will be shooting in London around about September/October. (Laughs) I promise you none of the characters are the same.
You’ve done a variety of roles, from the good guy to the villain, but is there one dream role that you haven’t done yet?
I don’t really think about what would be a dream role.I have always wanted to see you in Hollywood because you have the looks and talent, but you have kind of stayed away from it…
It’s not that easy where you just pack your bags and move to Hollywood or whatever. It’s a totally different process and very time consuming. You kind of have to restart because nobody knows you really there. So in a way, you have to start from scratch. I mean you never know because the world is getting smaller and smaller. Those boundaries and borders that were there between different countries and, you know, industries are kind of blurring, so you never know. But in terms of a dream role, I really don’t know what that would be right now.
You are a movie star, but more so a great actor. What do you think is the secret of a good performance?
I think that there’s no substitute to honesty. I just believe that if you can breathe life into every character and make them as believable as possible, that’s when you get something really special out.
You are a hero for many, but who is your own personal hero?
I mean my hero for me, as I’ve gotten older and seen the world and life, I think would have been my mom. For me she was really a very evolved and selfless human. A person who sacrificed so much, loved unconditionally and never feared anything. She was absolutely fearless and one of the most positive people that I have ever met. So, I think she would be my hero.
What inspires you today?
A great script would inspire me. A great talent out there to work with would inspire me. My
children inspire and motivate me. Love motivates me.
You know just waking up every day and having a sense of gratitude is what really motivates me to keep going.
If you could attempt another job other than your own, what would it be?
Maybe I would direct. I don’t direct, though. I don’t know, but I mean I’m very inclined right now and leaning a lot towards it. I think I would really enjoy going behind the camera and direct some good actors with a good script and tell a good story. That is something which has always kind of grabbed my attention and mesmerised me. That how many departments you can really work with and create something from scratch and be the captain of that. That I think would be something very very exciting and definitely extremely challenging.
What kind of content do you enjoy watching as an audience?
I just saw this really amazing series called The Offer. I don’t know if you’ve seen it. It’s really wonderful and I love watching stuff like that. It’s the whole behind-the-scenes of how The Godfather actually came into existence. So, it’s fantastic because I produced this movie called Daddy, and there were so many moments in there which were so similar – the challenges that one goes through. It’s about one of my favourite films The Godfather, part one and two. To just see what they went through, from the director Francis Ford Coppolla and producers to the studio to the whole mafia that got involved in it. It’s just phenomenal, so well written, and extremely well performed. It really catches the whole moments and mood. I really enjoyed that and like this other show Succession. There’s so much good stuff out there.
Why do you love being an actor?
Because there is not one day which is the same and it’s the absolute antithesis to monotony, you know. Finally, only an actor can decide when to hang up his gloves and retire, and create that shelf life for themselves. So, there’s so much you have to look forward to every day, evolve, learn, and most importantly, it keeps you young.
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
Aamir Khan’s blend of classic and contemporary fashiongetty images
Aamir Khan’s dedication to authentic character portrayals getty images
Cinematic milestones reflected in Aamir Khan’s on-screen imagegetty images
A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5