“Do I Have To Be Reminded Of My Age?” Arjun Rampal On Turning 46

Arjun Rampal couldn’t be happier. And  it’s not just because it was his birthday on November 26.​

On  November 25​ was  my sister Komal’s birthday. She is  exactly a year  younger and  our birthdays are  divided  by 24 hours. So  a day before my birthday we brought in her birthday and then we went on with  my birthday.So it  was two days  of birthday celebrations,” says Arjun.

No  noisy birthday party for Arjun,though. “It’s just  around 30 close friends, meeting up having a good time together. Nothing else.After you reach a  certain age, you no longer want to indulge in  wild  parties . You just want to be with close family and friends.I’ve seen enough  of that  life. I’ve walked  on the wild side. Now I like my life calm.Spending time with my wife and two daughters gives me  a bigger high than anything else.”

On  the career front, Arjun’s last release was  his ambitious  bio-pic on Arun Gawli. “Daddygot me what I wanted. It was meant to be  a reasonably-budgeted  film showing us a side toGawli not seen  before. My performance was appreciated. Everybody went home happy.”
Arjun’s  next release is J P Dutta’s Paltan, a war movie which Arjun  is thoroughly enjoying shooting.  “It’s my first time with  J P Dutta and also  my first war  movie.I’ve always  enjoyed  the  film of that genre specially JP Saab’s  Refugee and Border.  I am glad to be in one.”

He  next goes into a film called Nastik which is  about an atheist. “In real life too I don’t believe in God. I believe in worshipping the Universe. The film has an interesting script and the director Shailesh Varma  is  very talented.  It  is important to work with the new enthusiastic talent. That’s the  only way to take the  industry forward.”

At  46 what are Arjun’s thoughts on his life and life according to Bollywood’s  rules?

“Do I have to be reminded of my age?  But seriously, I couldn’t have asked for more. I’ve arocksteady family life and a career that is known for being adventurous.  As far as  the  film industry is concerned, I see a lot of intolerance within the industry and  from outside  the film industry towards actors filmmakers and  our work. This  is  very frightening. We must stop being pre-judging art before the artiste  puts forward his idea to the public.”