All set for a long innings

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I have been brought up on a heavy dose of Bollywood and by the age of 10, I knew that I wanted to act in films, says actor Arjun Mathur, who has been receiving positive response for his role as an intern in the recently released medical drama, Ankur Arora Murder Case.

The young actor is also upbeat about his English film Fireflies, where he stars opposite Rahul Khanna and Monica Dogra, recently premiered in the New York Film Festival. Arjun is also a popular face in the advertisement world, especially with the current Godrej series with Aamir Khan and the earlier Airtel 3G commercial opposite Aditi Rao Hydari.
Talking about his latest film, Ankur Arora Murder Case, the actor says, “I really liked the script and was very kicked up about working with the likes of Kay Kay Menon and Tisca Chopra. Both of them are brilliant actors and very down-to-earth. We exchanged creative inputs and worked as a close unit.” The actors likes working with actors, rather than ‘stars’, he concedes.
So how has his journey been so far? “After pursuing theatre in school, I directly went over to Mumbai to pursue my dreams. However, I didn’t get into acting immediately. I started working as an assistant director and was a part of projects like Kyun Ho Gaya Naa, Bunty aur Babli, Mangal Pandey: The Rising and Rang De Basanti. I was lucky to have worked with the likes of Shaad Ali, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Farhan Akhtar at an early stage,” recollects Mathur. After learning the ropes of filmmaking, Arjun soon got his acting break in short films made by Mira Nair and Farhan Akhtar in 2007.
This eventually led to his supporting role in the feature film, Luck by Chance followed by My Name is Khan. “I was skeptical about both the roles. The former had me portraying a struggling actor, which I was not comfortable with at that point in time. My Name is Khan had SRK in the lead. When he is onscreen, it is difficult to make your presence felt. But the fact that people started recognising me after these films was a positive signal for me,” says the 32-year-old actor. The actor also got to be a part of the National-Award winning film, I Am and was lauded for his role as a gay prostitute in it.
He had taken up modelling simultaneously in commercials to become a recognisable face on television and for financial independence. However, he had no clue that his ads would become so popular. “The reach of television is immense. I didn’t realise the kind of popularity that I would get with these ads. In fact, Vikram Bhatt saw me in the Airtel ad and decided to cast me for his film. And yes, they are monetarily quite rewarding!” says Arjun. The actor has also worked in a mini television series for MTV.
He is willing to try out various genres in Bollywood as long as the roles are interesting. “But I am tad bit disappointed with the kind of rom-coms that we are coming up with. They are all premised on the same trajectory. We need fresher ideas. For instance, Silver Linings Playbook is such a superb romantic comedy. I would like to see something like that over here,” he concludes.