Chocolate boy Ruslaan Mumtaz clears the air about his past and talks about being noticed. Filmfare is all ears
You’d never figure the pent up angst brewing behind that innocent face. His demeanour, his puppy eyes and his fair cheeks remind you of a young Aamir Khan. But let that not mislead you. Ruslaan Mumtaz is a firebrand waiting to happen. By his own admittance, he’s destiny’s ‘least favourite child’. He made a modest debut with Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar (MP3) in 2007. Six years later, all he’s managed to cull out from a rather unforgiving industry is supporting roles in movies like Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai, Dangerous Ishq and the lead in I Don’t Luv U (IDLU). He’s learnt to take controversies and allegations in his stride. He has A-list ambitions. But he feels the Gods are playing unfair. Not one to take it lying down, Ruslaan is trying his hand at off-kilter cinema. Carving a niche for himself, learning from his contemporaries and preparing for that one big shot at the moon.
Life’s like that
Though I Don’t Luv U did not fare well at the box-office, Ruslaan is still confident about his future projects. With great excitement he says, “I haven’t got a bad review yet, so I am hoping to continue in my efforts.” The energy doesn’t dwindle as he continues to talk about his lovely co-star Chetna Pande. The chivalrous Ruslaan even helped out his newcomer lady with ‘those intimate scenes’ in IDLU. He adds, “Chetna was nervous about the intimate scene. It wasn’t weird for me because I have done them before. I spent two hours convincing her on how important the scene was and that we had to do it. It was around 4 am when we finally did the scene.Luckily, we did it in one take. But I was irritated. It made me feel like I was Emraan Hashmi.”
Blast from the past
Life’s come full circle for Ruslaan. Until recently his biggest claim to infamy was an MMS scandal with Sasheh Agha (previously known as Zarah Khan). Ruslaan insists it was not him but someone else in the clip. Instead, Sasheh and her mother Salma Agha, yesteryear actor and singer, accused Ruslaan of circulating the clip for ulterior motives. IDLU was based on an MMS scandal. A wounded Ruslaan defends himself, “I didn’t want to stand there and make it a boxing match between Sasheh and me. I never fight in close circles or in the public. I can never disrespect a woman even if she has the worst things to say about me. I stay mum because that’s the way I’ve been brought up. My mother advised me to let it go. I wasn’t even involved with the clip. I felt bad for Sasheh and I’ve always sympathised with her. I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.” He assures everything is fine between the two today. But then again Sasha’s Aurangzeb released on the same day as Ruslaan’s IDLU. Talk about another twist in the tale.
TV’s my saviour
Generally, Actors do not like to move from big screen movies to TV soap operas. But Ruslaan thinks differently. He says, “The audience loves me. But the films I am doing are small. I am not able to reach out to a wider audience because big producers like Yash Raj and Dharma aren’t backing me. Even if the audience likes me, they have little chance of seeing me. I want to reach out to them. I want to be noticed.” Ruslaan feels that the only way to exhibit his passion for acting on a large scale is by doing television serials.
Spilling the beans
Ruslaan goes onto share some deep dark secrets. He portions out his casting couch experience. “Once at an auditioning studio, I was asked by a coordinator to get inside the back room and give him my best. He promised to make me a star.” But Ruslaan was smart enough to avoid the proverbial trap. The actor has had to deal with allegations of being gay in the past. He maintains a candid stance, “Being gay doesn’t matter. Being a good actor does. Everything else is secondary.”
Where’s the competition?
Ruslaan believes he’s been denied a place in Hindi cinema’s new young club. He blames it on luck. “My colleagues are doing better films than me. If I were getting the same films then I’d be competition. They are bigger than me. So, I don’t think anyone is competition for me.” He was born in the same year as Ranbir Kapoor and he feels greatly about B-town’s favourite young actor. “Ranbir is competition for Shah Rukh Khan. He’s very talented.” Ruslaan’s identified what could be competition for him. He reveals, “Someone like Varun Dhawan is competition but then again he is David Dhawan’s son.” Not just his competitors he’s got a keen eye on the directors he wants to work with too. “I love Farhan Akhtar. Dil Chahata Hai is one of my favourite films. He is number one on my list. Also, I want to work with Karan Johar because whatever he touches turns to gold. I would like to work with Anurag Kashyap because his cinema is so diverse.” With his wish list tucked firmly in mind, Ruslaan turns to the papers. Looking for his name. Hoping to catch a whiff of the limelight.
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