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A man for all reasons

Rahul Khanna returns to TVeven as he makes the right moves in mainstream commercial cinema

PHOTO: SAMPATH KUMAR G.P.

RETURN OF THE NATIVE Rahul Khanna: `One of the perks about being an actor is you can do different things'

Rahul Khanna wears his celebrity lightly on his immaculately cut jacket. The fact that he sails through tinsel town on Matter-of-fact Express is borne out with his sartorial choices. A black formal jacket teamed with a tee shirt and jeans. Like how cool can you get? "My style statement is simplify, much to the despair of all stylists," he says with a wry grin.

Rahul burned up the screen and singed us with his portrayal of Hassan the masseur in Deepa Mehta's Earth. Then he appeared in all these artsy films like Bhawandar and English films like 3 AM directed by Lee Davis (Spike Lee's assistant) and The Emperor's Club where he acted with Kevin Kline.

Many moons later, we suddenly hear of Rahul in Vikram Bhatt's Elaan and now we will be seeing him in Raqeeb, which he describes — eyes dancing with mischief — as a "double-cross murder mystery".

Ask him if the shift to mainstream commercial cinema is a conscious move and he insists: "There was no such rule as far as I am concerned. I do projects I am convinced about and would enjoy doing. That's all. I like to do everything. I think that is one of the perks about being an actor right? You can do different things. You don't need to be typecast in one kind of cinema."

While Rahul is moving at a more sedate pace, younger brother Akshaye has established himself in the marquee; and of course dad Vinod Khanna ruled Hindi cinema, running neck and neck with the Big B for the numero uno position till he decided to chuck it all up and follow Osho. But that is another story.

Project Family

Rahul says: "People come to me with projects casting dad, Akshaye and me together. But I do not think we will do it unless there is really something outstanding on offer." Big brother Rahul says he pulls rank all the time. "Akshaye and I are constantly fighting over silly things like who should read the paper first. We have similar taste though in movies and books. He and I were really naughty as children. But Akshaye was the outwardly naughty guy. I was the mastermind who would do all the plotting and he would take the rap."

Changing tack he says: "I love reading fiction. I finished reading Secret History and have bought Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games. I did not get it along with me though. It is rather heavy and I was wondering if they would allow me to carry it as hand baggage."

He says it is too early to talk about his character in Raqeeb, which is directed by Anurag Singh and produced by Raj Kanwar. "The others in the film are Jimmy Shergill, Sharman Joshi and Tanushree Dutta." He describes working on The Emperor's Club as a "fun, professional experience". "Mine was a small role. It was two weeks of non-stop laughs."

Bollywood calling

About Bollywood being all the rage in the West, "It is fantastic and I hope it sustains and moves from being the flavour of the season to the mainstream."

For Rahul, who has worked with Deepa Mehta in two films (Earth, Hollywood, Bollywood), Mehta is "my godmother". "It is great that Water has been sent for the Academy Awards from Canada."

Apart from Raqeeb, the other project on his plate is hosting Discovery Week, a half hour 13-episode series highlighting programmes for the week ahead. "It is a homecoming for me as television is the medium I started out in — on MTV. Though I look back on my tenure with MTV with fondness, I do not miss it. I am happy with this assignment with Discovery as I love the channel. Also I feel at this stage in life, the demographic I address is more tuned to Discovery than MTV."

He does not much care for bikes. "I like cars but am not a fanatic. I enjoy driving and there is this nine-hour drive on the Pacific coast highway. Where you have jagged rocks, the road and the Pacific Ocean. I am telling you, it is a spiritual drive. I do it once a year."

He would like to direct a movie some time but does not "have the patience to write a book". And no, the actor who is "based mostly in Mumbai or a plane," does not have any plans to settle down as yet.

MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER

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