In his career spanning 16 years, Arjun Rampal has not only won a National Award, but has also consistently sought out roles that are performance-oriented. With Daddy, the biopic on Arun Gawli in which he essays the tit ular role and also dons the producer's hat, Arjun attempts to tell a story without succumbing to the stereo types of the quintessential Bollywood gangster saga. In a chat with BT, the actor, who has comfortably essayed roles in both commercial and contentdriven films, admits that he veers more towards the latter. Excerpts...

What drew you to a biopic on gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli?
I love the genre of gangster films and movies made by directors like Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese. The Godfather, Goodfellas and Scarface are some of my favourites because they have a certain energy. Gangster films are glamorous because somewhere, you know you shouldn't ape that in real life. It seems approachable and real, yet it's unreal. So, when you get an opportunity to portray a gangster in a real and true manner, you grab it. For me, there was no better subject than Arun Gawli. The film is not propagandist, but neither is it a documentary.

Eleven years ago, you produced a film, I See You. Did the fact that it didn't do well make you cautious? Is that the reason it took you almost a decade to try your hand at production again?
Well, after I See You, I was in ICU for a while (laughs). It may not have been a hit, but it didn't lose money either. I was young and it was my first brush with production, but Daddy is a different ball game altogether. It has taught me a lot about film production. Now, I can don every role. A producer's job is the most thankless. Everybody pounces on him for everything. He has to be like a saint to shoulder everybody's baggage. At the same time, it's a huge luxury to be able to make the films that you believe in.

Last year, you impressed the audience and critics as sub-inspector Inderjeet Singh in Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh. This year, you have taken on the mantle of playing a real-life don. These roles are in complete contrast to the ones you played at the beginning of your career. They were more on the lines of the quintessential Bollywood hero...
In the beginning of my career, I was doing films that were similar - triangular and rectangular love stories essentially (laughs). But at that point, you just want to just want to work, as you are still getting to know the industry. I was aware that I was going to make mistakes, but I didn't realise it while I was doing those films. But deep within, I was dissatisfied. So, I took a year-long break in 2005 and didn't sign any project. The first film I did the following year was Don. Farhan (Akhtar, director) was somebody I connected with instantly, as we were like-minded. Then I shot for a realistic film, The Last Lear, with Rituparno Ghosh in Kolkata before taking up the role in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om, in which I played a 30-year-old guy with shades of grey. I had a lot fear in me when I was working with directors like Rituparno, Farhan and Farah. I was very conscious about getting into the character. Luckily, all those films gave me the opportunity to actually perform. During that phase, I realised that fear is important. When I am scared, I know that I am going to put my best foot forward. With Daddy, I was so petrified that I had sleepless nights. But, the excitement of putting something out there helps me overcome fear.

As an actor, do you prepare differently when you work with directors who come from diametrically opposite schools of thought like Farah Khan and Ashim Ahluwalia?
An actor should understand the director well. On the other hand, there's an innate actor within every director. Let me share an incident that happened while shooting with Farah. I had just wrapped up The Last Lear and was on the set of Om Shanti Om. The pitch and the projection of my dialogue delivery had to be a few notches higher than that in The Last Lear. I remember asking Farah, 'isn't this overacting?' She drew my attention to the fact that there was going to be background music and if I spoke like Marlon Brando, no one was going to hear me. Every filmmaker has a tempo or sur and an actor has to work in synergy with that.

Do you feel more satisfied with your roles in films like Daddy and The Last Lear compared with the ones you played in out-and-out commercial films?
The love and adulation you get for commercial films is huge. Being part of such movies also presented me with a lot of opportunities. Having said that, if I have to lean toward something, it would be the roles that are performance-oriented. They give you the opportunity to sink you teeth into the character and often, a part of that character remains with you for long.

So, is it difficult living the life of an actor considering the fact that a part of the character lingers on?
It's difficult for the people you are living with (laughs). During Raajneeti, nobody wanted to be around me. The role was very aggressive and I had become like that.

You said that today, you would choose a performance-oriented film over a commercial movie, though the latter brings you more love and adulation. But you must have done films just for the money at some point in your career...
Yes, you have to do films for money sometimes - either to buy a house or secure your family. Sometimes, you end up being a part of a film without your heart being in it. That's wrong. Yes, I have done films just for money, but I won't do that again. It's not fair on anybody.

Do you feel that you were typecast because of your good looks?
Being a good-looking actor has advantages as well as disadvantages. Some people might consider me only to play suave characters, but that stems from the limitations of the filmmakers who are not able to see me in different roles. So, all one can do is run away from people like that (laughs).

Do you also run away from the media scrutiny on your personal life? It gets especially hard when it involves your loved ones...
You have to learn to deal with it. People want to know about your personal life because you are a celebrity. While some people thrive on the negativity that exists in other people's lives, others focus on the positive side. It's a double-edged sword.

After having come so far and as someone with so much experience, how do you gauge success today? What does it mean to you now vis-à-vis when you started out?
Being successful means that you are able to create opportunities. You can't gauge it from a monetary perspective. To be in a good headspace when you are doing whatever it is that you are doing is success. Today, the fact that I can make the films I want to defines success to me.

While cinema has always been seen as a male-dominated industry, our society is strongly patriarchal as well. As the father of two young daughters, how do you strike a balance between being protective yet helping them grow into strong individuals?
I think it's important to be their friend and also teach them to be fearless. Children should be able to talk to their parents freely about anything and everything. Mehr (wife) and I give our daughters a lot of freedom. We encourage them and teach them to love themselves. Also, as parents, we try to be the people they can fall back on without any fear. Fear is what leads children to be dishonest.