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Playing different roles with aplomb

Entering the big world of Bollywood at a time when it was thought that models could not act, Rahul Dev, who got an award for his performance in "Champion", believes in diligence without bothering too much about success and failure, says Madhur Tankha...

He has no illusions about himself or his craft. From a model, who with his charisma and stylish walk used to set the ramp on fire, to a versatile character artiste in Bollywood films, Rahul Dev has worked a lot on his looks, dialogue delivery and acting skills.

Moreover, he meticulously studies his role and goes for a change in terms of appearance to suit the character he is supposed to play on the big screen.

Speaking matter-of-factly about his innings in Bollywood, Rahul says that he is acutely aware of the fact that he is not playing a leading man in Hindi films and so is banking heavily on his versatility. "It is not that the whole film is resting on my shoulders. Success rate doesn't affect me. I believe in diligence and am prepared to play any part whether deaf, dumb or an older character."

To emphasise his point, Rahul takes out a dozen-odd pictures from his bag in which he played different characters in various Hindi films.

From "Champion", in which with his rawness and bulging biceps he gave tough competition to his macho co-actor Sunny Deol, to "Asoka", where he shared the screen with Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul has shown his ability to enact different shades of character with aplomb. Like a chameleon, he goes into the skin of the character that he is supposed to portray.

Sounding upbeat about his newly released film "Jaane Hoga Kya" that stars Bipasha Basu, Preeti Jhangiani, Paresh Rawal and has been produced by Alok Shrivastava, Rahul says the story is basically about a scientist who makes a clone of himself. "Actor Aftab Shivdasani is playing the scientist and since clones are supposed to be same, he is also enacting the clone's part. I am playing an honest and no-nonsense cop, who is the second protagonist in the film. In `Jaane Hoga Kya', the character I am portraying is completely against the idea of cloning because in the first experiment carried out by the scientist one person had lost his life," he says.

Revealing more about the film, Rahul says the scientist wants to risk his own life by cloning himself but the cop wants to throw a spanner in his works because he knows that committing suicide is illegal. "Although Aftab doesn't realise that he has produced a clone that possesses special powers, I am convinced that he has. So, I keep a tab on the scientist."

Claiming that the film is an original idea, Rahul says this is for the first time that a film on cloning has been made in Bollywood.

He did not feel the need to browse through books on cloning as he was playing a cop. He says his character, who understands the psyche of the clone, is very similar to that of Sherlock Holmes.

Dismissing the suggestion that the cop has been glamorised in the film as it has become a sort of trend in some of the recent Bollywood movies, Rahul says why should a character portraying a policeman be any different from that in real life. Pointing out to his unruly mop of hair that has streaks of golden colour, the actor says though at present he is sporting a coloured hair-do and also a stubble, in the film he had a crew cut and used to shave twice a day.

Stating that there is no one particular formula that can guarantee the success of a film, Rahul says: "If filmmakers had known the formula then all films would have been successful. In my recent film "Fightclub" there was a big star cast and huge publicity was given to it yet the film failed to click at the box office," he adds.

Revealing that he has bagged quite a few film awards since his debut in the much talked about "Champion", Rahul shows his down-to-earth side by saying that he has now begun to scratch the surface. "There are very few directors who understand actors. Rani Mukherjee is a phenomenal actress but before Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epoch-making film "Black" very few would have rated her so highly."

Stating that the late actor Amrish Puri, who became one of the finest villains in Bollywood, got recognition in films only when he was in his 40's, Rahul says: "I am 36-year-old right now. And I won a film award for my first film "Champion". I came all the way from Delhi to try my luck in the big world of Bollywood. Earlier, people used to say that I could not even act, as I was a model. Now, filmmakers are realising that models can act." He is pinning a lot of hope on his upcoming films, "Mukhbir", "Benaam" and "Kachchi Sadak".

Rahul's idea of an ideal holiday is to spend quality time at home with his family members. Delhi is a happy homecoming for Rahul, who intermittently sipped his cold coffee during the interview.

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