DNA Exclusive! Emmy-nominated Arjun Mathur says 'playing gay onscreen is exactly same as essaying straight character'

Come November 23 and we will get to know if actor Arjun Mathur has received an Emmy or not. 

A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that the actor has been nominated in the 'Best Performance by an Actor’ category at the prestigious International Emmy Awards 2020 for his refined portrayal of a gay man, living in urban India at a time when homosexuality was a still a crime in the country, in 'Made in Heaven'.

Discovered by the likes of Mira Nair and Farhan Akhtar through their short film projects 'Migration' and 'Positive' respectively, Arjun has certainly come a long way from his initial assistant director years. 

In his career spanning over a decade, the actor has been part of several remarkable films including Zoya Akhtar's 'Luck By Chance', Karan Johar's 'My Name Is Khan', and Suhail Tatari's 'Ankur Arora Murder Case'. Besides this, he has been part of several critically acclaimed independent projects like 'Barah Aana', 'Coffee Bloom', the National-Award winning 'I Am', and the English language film, 'Fireflies'. 

And now, with Amazon Prime's 'Made in Heaven', Arjun has proved his mettle as an actor. Not that there was any doubt, but an Emmy nomination certainly puts him on a pedestal from where he will clearly be visible to one and all. 

Soon after Arjun's nomination, we at DNA had the opportunity to interact with the actor and talk about his character in 'Made in Heaven', his reaction when he first received the happy news, and much more.  

On being asked what made him agree to do the show 'Made in Heaven' where he plays a gay man Karan Mehra, Arjun told DNA in an exclusive interview, "As soon as I read the content, the script and understood the stance that it was seeking against patriarchy, misogyny and all our archaic traditions, etc, and the support that it was giving to the community, I wanted to be a part of all of that." 

Disclosing if he ever felt even the slightest hesitation on playing Karan, Arjun said, "No, not at all. Because it was always supposed to be a very straightforward, alpha male, masculine character, except that he liked to sleep with men. So, there was really no difficulty. Of course, I am myself a heterosexual man so, every time I had to get intimate with a man, I would get a little edgy, but that was only for a moment. I had no difficulty whatsoever." 

Arjun added, "It wasn't difficult for me, but I guess it's still difficult for people to accept the fact that playing a gay character and a straight character, is exactly the same."

Emmy nomination

Sharing how he reacted when he got to know about his Emmy nomination, Arjun told DNA, "I honestly had a really difficult time believing it for the first few minutes. I thought, someone has played a prank, it's a lie or some kind of a joke. But that was not the case. It took me some time and phone calls from various people to confirm the news and then I started to believe it."

Speaking about who he called up soon after he got the news and the reaction that he got from the Hindi film industry, Arjun stated, "The first person that I called was Zoya (Akhtar) after I had shared the news with my family." 

Talking about the film fraternity's response to his nomination, Arjun said that it was 'stupendous'. "From the film fraternity, there were a lot of calls, messages, tweets and when this announcement came, the fraternity was particularly going through a bit of a difficult time. So, I think it was like a breath of fresh air for many people. I was very touched by a lot of people, including Hrithik Roshan, who tweeted about me. I felt amazing," Arjun beamed. 

Congratulations on the nomination as actor in #madeinheaven @mathurarjun .. @iemmys and to the teams of #DelhiCrime and #FourMoreShotsPlease on their nom nods .. come on India https://t.co/1PC2QXchzF

— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) September 24, 2020

The Zoya factor

During the interaction, Arjun opened up about his special connection with filmmaker Zoya Akhtar. He revealed that even before he did Zoya's 'Luck By Chance', she would help him select photographs for this portfolio. 

Arjun also spoke about their great history of friendship and being cast in her first film, first ad film, and also her first streaming series. 

"With Zoya, there's been a great history. I met her towards the end of my assistant director's years. She would often help me pick the photographs that I would send out in my first portfolio. In fact, my first ever film that I did was a short film called 'Migration', which was also written by Zoya, and then I was in her brother's short film 'Positive'. This was all before 'Luck By Chance'. In fact, I was also in the first ad campaign she ever wrote and now I happen to be in her first streaming series. So, there's definitely something special going on there," Arjun told DNA.

He added, "I am just blessed and extremely fortunate that a filmmaker like Zoya Akhtar believes in me and trusts me with such complex characters." 

Equation with Sobhita Dhulipala and 'Made in Heaven' season 2

As far as Arjun's equation with his co-star in the series is concerned, the actor revealed that the two share a good rapport and are looking forward to reuniting for season 2.

"The equation (with Sobhita) has been good. We only met at the beginning of 'Made in Heaven' and thankfully we got along well and shared a nice comfort level while filming (the series). She definitely holds a special place. Not that we are meeting every day or are in touch, but we certainly are looking forward to reuniting for season two," Arjun said.

Talking about when will season 2's shooting commence, Arjun stated, "We were supposed to start shooting in May but due to the pandemic, it all got postponed. So, as of now, I'm not sure when exactly it will be picked up again. But, I think I am hearing some murmur that it will be soon."

Reaction to Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy calling out an Indian channel

Digressing a little from the topic of the web series and his Emmy nomination, we spoke to Arjun about actor Dan Levy calling out an Indian comedy channel for censoring a kissing scene between two men. To this, Arjun responded by saying that it's the fault of the Indian governing bodies which are still not evolved. 

"The Indian audience is very evolved, it's the governing bodies which are not evolved. I personally learned through 'Made in Heaven' that the audience is far more evolved than we even give it credit for. The character of Karan in 'Made in Heaven' transcended gender, nationality, race, etc to resonate with people to such an extent that I did not receive even one negative comment from anyone. His story was accepted as any other love story." 

He added, "And since you mentioned Schitt's Creek, there's, of course, a bit of hypocrisy there, because a kiss between two women was allowed and this is wasn't." Arjun continued, "This is an unfortunate time we are living in where online trolling can govern a lot of things apparently. It's a combination of these governing bodies' decisions and all this online trolling which sort of scares people to do what they wish to do." 

For a cause

In the end, Arjun spoke about a sensitive topic, one which is close to his heart. The actor, who is the Cause Ambassador for MTV ORGAN Daan initiative, revealed that like hundreds of people across the globe, he too has pledged to donate his organs. 

Speaking from personal experience, Arjun said that there are a lot of myths that discourage people from pledging their organs and mentioned that this initiative was looking at busting them. 

Arjun said "My own brother required a kidney transplant earlier this year. I've been through the process of wait, uncertainty, and I've seen firsthand how much it can help and how many lives it can save. But, I think, usually, when people think about donating a part of their body, they probably feel an immediate attachment to it without even realising that after you're gone, you don't really have any use for it."

He continued, "The other thing I believe people seem to think is that when you donate your organs, they will be forcibly taken after you pass away, but that is not the case. The case is, that after you die, your next of kin, will be able to decide whether your organs should be taken or not. These are myths that people have because of which I think organ donation doesn't happen enough in India." 

"What this initiative is trying to do is bust these myths and educate people about organ donation and I am happy to be associated with them in this cause," Arjun concluded.