‘I need the visibility right now’

Ruslaan Mumtaz tells Deepali Dhingra that he does not want to act in multi-starrers
Your debut film Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar was appreciated. Were you apprehensive about the result?

• Actually I wasn’t thinking much about the audience response at that time. I was more concerned about what my family and friends would think. They’re the ones who’ve seen me struggle and I wanted to see their approval. I know that if I was bad, they would have said it to me. My mother was the first person to see the film and she liked it. My father does not usually watch films but he saw my film and said that he liked it too. That was what gave me confidence. I was in London when the film released so I had no clue what was happening here. My friends used to send me text messages to let me know what the critics are saying about the film.

Did the fact that you’re Anjana Mumtaz’s son help in any way?

• By the time I started in films, my mother’s career as an actress was almost over. There’s a new breed of people who’re in production who don’t even know her. And she’s not so famous that she can walk in and say ‘take my son in your film’ and they would do that. I had to remind people of her, so it didn’t really help. But she helped me by explaining how to conduct myself in the film business and teaching me things that I would have to deal with here.

You’ve trained under Shiamak Davar for dance and have also done theatre. Did you always know you would be an actor?

• I realised in my third year of college that I wanted to act in films. All these things I did only because I knew I would become an actor someday. I told Shiamak too that I wanted to act. Everyone I knew, knew that I wanted to act in films. Even theatre was a stepping stone for me.

What’s your next release going to be?

• It’s a film called Tere Sang directed by Satish Kaushik. The post production of the film is on at the moment. The film is a teen love story and I’m opposite a new girl who is being launched with this film.

Your first film was a teeny bopper love story and so is your second film...

• As actors, you take the best from what is offered to you. This is the kind of bill I fit in at the moment and plus, there’s less competition in this bracket! (laughs) I can always build a body later and do actionoriented roles later in life.

What are the kind of films you would want to do?

• I’m going with the flow. But I do know that I don’t want to multi-starrers even though they’re the norm these days. Even for my debut, I had a lot of offers but I wanted to do only a solo hero film. I need the visibility right now. I’m not keen on doing films which have four or five heroes.
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