The Adventurer

Arjun Rampal’s zippy zappy 'baatein' with Khalid Mohamed

From his ninth floor Bandra apartment, you can see a relaxed sea, almost if it were catching an afternoon nap. Chez the Rampals, the mood’s anything but.

Wife Mehr is speeding off to town, some friends have dropped in for a curry lunch, and the subject of my interview is tinkering around with a mini deejay console which he picked up in London.  Tomorrow, he’s flying to Kuala Lumpur for the Don shoot. So my time starts now:

Aren’t you still leading quite a fast-paced life?

Am I?  But I’ve always been on the move, travelling, zipping in and out of airports and jets, accessing internet, buying whatever gizmos I can afford. There was a time when I’d party hard, I still do. The only difference is that I’m a little more serious, I work better now.

Meaning?

Consistency is expected from an actor, I won’t dafrao or walk through a role. After nine films, I also know it’s very important for an actor to be adventurous, he cannot limit himself to one kind of role. Whether they’ve done well, so-so or bombed, I’m very emotionally attached to all my films.

At one point, didn’t you antagonise film producers by sticking to your market price?

I still stick to my market price. That whole business of me not agreeing to reduce my fee was fanned by the producers I couldn’t work with for various reasons. And this was aggravated by the media. One is paid what one deserves. It’s so crass of anyone to ask me or anyone for that matter, “How much do you earn?” or “How do you live?” I’m not stealing from anyone. I have the right to spend a certain amount of money on an outfit I like. As long as I pay my taxes, it should be cool.

As an actor, have you stabilised?

No actor can be stable. Every actor has his ups and downs. That’s allright as long as a fire still rages inside you to do better. But frankly where are our films going? Where are the original scripts? If Chinese and Korean cinema can make a mark with original stories, why can’t we?

Hello, hello. One of your most remarkable performances has been a film which was hardly original.

Meoowwww. (Ha-ha-ha’s) My character was original! No one claimed that Ek Ajnabee was original, it was a remake of Man of Fire. Apu (director Apurva Lakhia) and I have been friends from Delhi before my modeling days. I haven’t met anyone who didn’t like my performance. I even got the BBC-Asia Award for it. I was zapped ..because it was a very close contest with Abhishek Bachchan who was so brilliant in Sarkar.

You have a strong market overseas. How come?

What do you mean how come? I think it’s because I’ve been on quite a few world tours. There’s a very special connection with the overseas audience which I’m very grateful for. I’m told my films do particularly well in the UK, the US and Africa.

What’s this about Shilpa Shetty dropping out of Farhan Akhtar’s Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd because you were paired opposite her?

I’ve no idea, I didn’t even know she would be a part of the movie. I’m doing a guest appearance, I read the script and went for it, no questions asked.

Okay, what if we hypothesise that Shilpa Shetty dropped out because of you?

(Rolls his eyes, gags, breaks into coughs)  Good grief! I would be devastated, if that was true I would jump off the ninth floor right now.

Don’t you regret not being a part of Rang De Basanti?

(Peruses the sea waves) Next question.

Whatever happened to your Dil Sacha Chehra Jhoota directed by Neeraj Vohra?

You’ve run out of questions or what? You should ask him, not me. The film’s ready, I had a terrific time playing the role of a tapori, maybe I should call Neerajji and ask, “Waaassssup dude?” (Eyeing his watch)

Right, so you have to pack for Kuala Lumpur. Aren’t you fed up of living out of a suitcase?

I don’t live out of a suitcase, I hang my clothes up in the hotel’s closet. After all, I’m an organa..is..no..no..orgrona..yeah..got it..organised guy.

khalid@dnaindia.net