Fourteen years after he tugged at the heartstrings of young teenage girls with Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar, Ruslaan Mumtaz is set to revisit the romantic-comedy genre with Netflix’s Namaste Wahala. While the Valentine’s Day release was canned by the actor “without any baggage or expectations”, he admits to getting cold feet as D-day approaches. “I was approached for this film a year ago, and was told that it would be shot in Africa, with an African crew. I sought to have a unique experience, and work with a different set of people. Now, my friends across the globe are excited to watch it, and I [am questioning] the things that I have done. Had this been a Bollywood film, I would’ve trained for six months, and followed a diet. In this case, I was eating and enjoying the night before a scene that required me to bare my body,” says the actor.  

Apart from the fact that he has found favour in the genre, a big draw for Mumtaz was the chance to collaborate with North East fame actor Ini Dima-Okojie, and veteran star Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD). “They are the Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan of [the Nigerian] film industry. I wanted to be an able representative of the Hindi film industry. RMD is a national heart-throb,” says the actor adding that his suggestions, including one to change the name of his character from Rajesh to Raj to give “their audiences a slice of Bollywood”, was appreciated. “I also have songs-and-dance sequences.” 

Mumtaaz promises that the subject of interracial romance — a picky subject for Indian parents, even today — has been sensitively dealt with “Educated families view the issue from a progressive lens. In the film, the girl is a lawyer, and the guy, an investment banker. The parents have encouraged their kids to pursue their dreams. In every culture, men decide [women’s fate], and women today are standing up against that norm. This film is a rom-com, expressed from the female point of view.”

Actor Ruslaan Mumtaz recalls the experience of driving on Mumbai’s empty roads to reach the hospital with his wife, after she went into labour
Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; March 27, 2020)

Actor Ruslaan Mumtaz and his wife Nirali Mehta became proud parents of a baby boy, yesterday. While the actor is ecstatic about the birth of his bundle of joy, he cannot forget the long hours of anxiety preceding it.

Ruslaan told BT, “It was a normal delivery and the baby was born at 4 am on Thursday. Around 9 pm on Wednesday, Nirali went into labour and all of us panicked because we had to rush from our Juhu home to the hospital, which is located at Marine Lines. Due to social distancing, we didn’t take any of our family members with us. We did not see a single person on the road and it was quite eerie. I was scared that we might be stopped by the police, but luckily, nothing happened and we reached the hospital in half an hour.”

Ruslaan added, “Nirali’s father, who is a radiologist at the hospital, was already waiting for us when we reached. The hospital was also empty, with only the staff members present. Thankfully, everything went smooth and we are parents to a lovely baby boy.”

He added, “We will be in the hospital for two days. Due to social distancing. my parents and other family members will not be allowed to see the baby. We had finalised a nanny, but now, due to the Coronavirus lockdown, we are planning to do everything on our own. The hospital staff was very efficient, but I was extremely worried about how we are going to manage it.”

The actor is happy that he was home when his wife needed him the most. He said, “I was shooting for a film in Karjat when the lockdown happened, and I returned home on March 13. Otherwise, Nirali would have had to call me from Karjat when she went into labour. My mom (actress Anjana Mumtaz) is at home to help, but I want to be a hands-on father. I was feeling bad that I could not be with Nirali in her last month of pregnancy, but now that I am at home, I will make the most of it. We plan to watch online videos to learn more about handling a newborn.”

In an earlier interview, Ruslaan had said that Nirali and he had decided on names for a baby girl. He said, “Now, we will have to sit down and think of a good name for the baby. I had many names ready for a girl, but not a boy.”