Bobby Gets Serious

“I was struggling to find roles, so I decided to play my trump card and come out openly,” says peach-skinned Bobby, who grew up in Delhi, before marching into Mumbai four years ago with empty pockets and celluloid dreams. (He spent his first seven nights on a railway platform, then worked for a year at two suburban dance bars to survive.) Bobby says before that he ran away from home and wandered penniless around Eurasia for two and a half years, covering 11 countries with his boyfriend.

“Initially I didn’t mind doing anything to keep work flowing in, but now I’m fed up of playing the same character; I want meatier roles,” adds the actor whose first role was playing Aishwarya Rai’s costume designer in Subhash Ghai’s Taal. Yet his film debut was not entirely positive. When he and his friends went to watch the movie for the first time, Bobby realised that his scene had been hacked. “My pals kept saying ‘where are you?’”

His greatest exposure to date has been on the small screen, most recently on Zee’s Kittie Party. “For the first time, my character has emotions like a normal person.”

Yet it was on the sets of the soon-to-be-released Chalte Chalte (starring Shah Rukh and Rani Mukherjee), where Bobby decided to alter his image. “I am much prettier without make-up. In the past I always been concerned about my appearance; now I want to focus on my performance.” While shooting for the movie, Bobby was struggling with a certain sequence, with producer Shah Rukh looking on. “Shah Rukh took me aside and placed his black coat around my shoulders, which gave me so much confidence,” says Bobby adding, “I felt like I was a man.”

Does that mean he won’t play gay in the future? “I’m open to queer roles. After all it’s opened doors for me,” shoots back Bobby, who did an item number with man-child Salman Khan for Raveena Tandon’s Stumped. “Salman is a beautiful human being, when we’re on the sets he treats me so well.”

Yet society’s prejudice against homosexuals continues to impede Bobby’s growth. “Better roles are coming my way, but life is still hard. Rekha once said that when you’re famous, the public will accept you and love you for who you are. I’m hoping that will be soon.”