Arjun Rampal is one of the sexiest men in the Hindi film industry. However, he has more to him than just his husky voice and good looks. Rampal has subtly shifted to playing characters with grey shades and roles close to reality. He is back, and this time he plays Mumbai gangster Arun Gawli in Daddy. In this interview with indianexpress.com, the 44-year-old actor gets candid about how he was tired of doing monotonous glam roles in films, and had started feeling superficial in a profession he believes has deeper roots. What about Daddy attracted you to take it up as an actor? I don't like one dimensional roles, that's the most boring thing to do. Anything one dimensional - storytelling, acting, anything that is too straight, I can't walk that straight line. You have to move things your way, you have to prepare. I love the process of preparing for a role rather than monotonously working on a role. When you become somebody else through your role, you absorb it, you become that person. You are picking more and more realistic roles, grey roles, leaving behind the glamorous ones. Any reason? It happened by me just feeling 'nothing'! After watching a few films of mine, walking out of the cinema hall, I would wonder 'what have I done? I don't feel anything, there is no sense of satisfaction.' There was no sense of joy or fulfillment or pride. These are the emotions you want to feel when you are in this industry. You want to come out of the cinema hall after watching your film, and feel proud of yourself. I wanted to feel purely about my craft, not to become a megastar, but to be known as a good actor. I used to feel very superficial on that level, but the profession is much deeper, so I stopped looking at it superficially, and that's how things started changing. Model, actor, producer and writer. Was it the growth process in the industry or a deliberate plan? I cannot plan my tomorrow. Life is all about experiences, and then you take certain decisions, and that's what your life becomes. In the entertainment industry, there is no calculation that works, otherwise we all would be making blockbusters. I think whatever you do, you have to do it with your heart and conviction, work with the right set of people, people who you believe in and people who believe in you. It has to be a collaborative effort, and that's what we are here to do, to collaborate with each other, and that's how my career, and everything has shaped up, it’s been a lot of collaboration. You are an outsider who carved his way into mainstream Bollywood. How easy or difficult was it for you? I am glad I am. I don't think the way my career has shaped up and all the things that have happened to me, and all the experiences that I have had, I would want to share or change for anything in the world, really. I have been extremely lucky to have made a lot of good friends here, and to have been able to stand here for so long. I have done all of it on my own, and it makes me feel good.
