An Actor Prepares

Politics was never his cup of tea. All he ever sipped from the political brew were couple of life’s lessons from his politician grand-father Arjun Singh. “Research. Always be prepared,know everything you can about a subject before you open your mouth,” Arunoday Singh still enjoys the sweet saccharin taste of this gyan. Be it his insatiable lust to travel,the irresistible urge to write,his love affair with the languages (in this way,he truly can claim the title of a world citizen and blend in),a fine tuning with music or his maverick attempts at exploration,at 26,Arunoday is a man who lives and looks forward to life. But the one thing that truly completes him is acting. “Saw Marlon Brando in ‘On the Waterfront’ when I was nine,and I knew this was it,” his deep voice,peppered with a fine accent manages to leak out quite a bit of personal information – like living abroad for ten years,education in the States,theatre in Boston,New York and London,bringing the Bard to life on stage,delivering contemporary performances,and then,making way back home “for I was intrigued by this new wave of independent cinema and wanted to work with the likes of Vishal Bhardwaj,Ketan Mehta,Sudhir Mishra…” Which he did,and Arunoday will soon be seen as a striking 6’4” tall terrorist in Piyush Jha’s Sikandar slated for release on August 21.

“Sikandar is not Kashmir,it’s more about the loss of innocence and it can happen anywhere..Palestine,Brazil,Sudan. I play Zahgeer Quadir,a feared and respected Area Commander of the Kashmir Azaadi (Freedom) Force,” Arunoday throws light on his character,orphaned,battle hardened,more like victim of circumstances. “It’s hard to judge him as a negative character for he has not seen a life outside his group,” reasons Arunoday,who was interestingly mistaken as a ‘terrorist’ by the Army in Kashmir! “Let’s just say that I was in the character. In the west,acting is taken as a very serious profession – they’ll ask for experience,drill you mercilessly unlike here where star power works. I take my job very seriously. So,instead of taking the car to the sets,I trekked the distance in Pahalgam,and wore a firan for a whole month. That’s when my fair looks and tall stature attracted wrong attention,” he explains.

Unlike newcomers,Arunoday shies away from the mainstream. “I don’t want to get trapped in the hero image or something I don’t have to work hard for. The whole point of acting is to do characters unlike yourself,to step into somebody else’s shoes…that’s what makes you human,” Arunoday first convinces himself of the role and then works on it. “It takes a very particular and peculiar kind of person to take up acting,and to be successful,you have to be critical of your work. My English teacher encouraged me to take up theatre to overcome my shyness. Acting exorcised my demons,I burn with energy on stage,” he yearns to play the sad and romantic Antony from Antony and Cleopatra,and this uber cool character called Cognac from a play called Burn This. But in the meantime,it’s Sikandar,Vinay Shukla’s Mirch and Anil Kapoor’s home production Ayesha (based on Emma) directed by Rajshri Ojha with Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor.

He’s eaten things you normally squash with a fly sword,snorkeled in the islands of Lakshwadeep,danced all night at a reggae rave where if you stop you get beaten up! Next on his list is trip to South America,perfecting Hindi,learning Italian and Japanese. And his current status is Politically,meta-physically wrinkle-free,spiritual but not ritualistic. Whether he makes it or not,Arunoday Singh is certainly a man on the move.