Arjun Rampal has spent over a decade in Bollywood, and says that he is re-discovering himself as an actor now. “As the saying goes, you are as good as your last film. This is not an easy industry to survive in. Yes, I am not doing a whole pile of films, but I am getting to do roles that I want to do. I can create a market where people would trust me for my content-driven films,” says the 42-year-old, who has done some offbeat films such as “Raajneeti” (2010) and “Satyagraha” (2013).
However, Rampal does admit that it’s difficult to survive without box office success. “It’s fair to say that one does hope that their film does really well at the box office, whether or not people like it. But, an actor should be honest with his choices. Sometimes, good films don’t make those kind of collections.”
And the reverse, says Rampal, is also true. “There was a time in my career when I used to do a lot of movies and when people would ask me which film was worth watching, I really didn’t have an answer. That’s because I thought those films were all the same, which is sad.”
Asked about the new crop of actors in Bollywood and competing with them, Rampal says, “There has always been competition. If everybody is complacent, there won’t be a change, and people won’t try to do something different. People come up to me with new concepts. That’s all an actor wants.”
