Arjun Rampal talks about 'Satyagraha', Dubai and success

During his packed schedule on the promotional activities of 'Satyagraha', Emirates24|7 caught up with Arjun Rampal who is smiling from ear to ear after the success of 'D-Day'. Excerpts:

LAP franchise in Dubai:

I am still planning on that (bringing LAP, his lounge-bar-restaurant franchise to Dubai). Dubai is a great market; I am excited about the concept. Right now I am concentrating on finishing the Mumbai one. Once that goes up and running, then we look at other cities either Dubai or Singapore, I don't know which will go first but either one of them.

Dubai is a great place to invest, it has got great infrastructure so I don't know (laughs!) when I have enough money to buy a property, I will.

Dubai trip:

Dubai trip was a bit of both pleasure and business but more pleasure. I needed to take a break and I like Dubai. A friend of mine was doing a charity event, she takes care of the labour camps, adopts these camps; she gives them lot of amenities and she wanted me to come and visit one of them. So my visit was clubbed with that and a bit of relaxation.

'Satyagraha':

It's a Political thriller keeping in mind the sentiments what the Indian youths are going through in today's age. The youth is not keeping quiet and going out looking for a leader. Similarly my character is that kind of a youth leader who finds he can express his voice through the movement he joins that is led by his old school teacher.

Working with Prakash Jha:

You work with people you are compatible with, people you can trust. Prakash looks at me in as a very different and versatile actor and he gives me role that would challenge me and I enjoy doing these kind of parts. These roles allow me to push the envelope.

In 'Satyagraha' my roles is that of a young politician who realises that the system is filled with corruption but he doesn’t have a way to do anything for it. But at the same time he is ambitious about his political career and he has got a heart of gold. He is the kind of guy who will put his life in the line for a cause.

'Satyagraha' characters:

Ajay (Devgn) is a character who is an outsider, my character Arjun goes into the grass root level, meets people there and how these two people puts this revolution together and starts working for a solution. And the movement gathers momentum and each character, whether it's Kareena's (Kapoor Khan), Ajay's (Devgn), Armita's (Rao), mine, Amitji's (Amitabh Bachchan) goes through a journey; through this movement of find themselves, of finding peace within themselves.

No stopping Rampal:

If you allow yourself to come out of the comfort zone and push the envelope and go down a route that is going to be challenging, which might raise questions within yourself, there's fear, so there's respect automatically for the work that goes behind so that a performance is convincing enough and that's the way I choose my paths. I like the element of surprise, I like to surprise myself, I like to surprise the audience. That is what I want to do otherwise it will all get boring. There are actors who do stylish work and it does really well and there are actors who leave characters behind, which will be memorable which will be quality films with stories with a message in them and at the same time entertaining and engaging. And I think that's the kind of cinema I would like to be attached to. Those are the kind of characters i would like to play.

Curving the path for Rampal:

When I did 'Om Shanti Om' I was very scared to do that part but that kind of gave me a real boost and at the same time I did a movie that commercially did not do well but it was a movie with Rituparno Ghose 'The Last Lear' but then the way I worked with him and he taught me how to approach a scene and about how he looks at things, opened some locks in the mind. And then someone like Prakash Jha who gives you 'Rajneeti' which opens some blocks in your mind unlocks certain things. It's the team that you work with say like Abhishek Kapoor ('Rock On!!') or Farhan Akhtar ('Don') you work with like-minded people, people who look at you in a different way, understands what you are trying to do, what your capability and potential is and try to tap it as much of it as you can. I think the key is to find those people who can tap into you and surprise you and you can go ahead and surprise other people.

Experimenting with characters:

I would love to do a comedy, I would love to do a great love story, in fact this film that I am doing 'Roy' is a love story. I would not like to get stuck in these kinds of parts (serious brooding part). Initially I didn't want to do 'Om Shanti Om' because I told Farah Khan 'Look I won't be able to show this film to my kids'. Then I thought and decided let’s just push the envelope because how many times do you get to play in such big commercial film. If I can pull off the character that would be really really comforting for me as an actor and give me confidence.

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