He was raised on a farm and has a solution when things get a bit too much: road trips. Meet Arunoday Singh, Bollywood’s man of the moment.
The 6 ft 4 inch tall Arunoday Singh, who famously shared 22 kisses with co-star Aditi Rao Hydari in ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’ and showed off his six-pack in ‘Aisha’, has just made headlines for signing Madhur Bhandarkar’s coveted project, ‘Heroine’, opposite Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Not bad for the New York-trained actor who made his debut in ‘Sikandar’ just two years ago.
Raised in Madhya Pradesh, on a farm near Bhopal, and schooled at Kodaikanal International School before moving to the US as a student, Arunoday now considers Mumbai home, though he likes to think of himself as nomadic. The grandson of Congressman, the late Arjun Singh, completed his BA degree in America and joined acting school in New York where he did whatever jobs it took to survive. A stint in theatre in England followed before Bollywood called.
His ‘himbo’ act in 'Aisha' had women swooning and his bad boy role in ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’ only compounded his popularity.
As co-star Hydari once said, “He is very talented and very charming. Kids, old women, young women, mothers or grandmothers, he can charm them all!” Read on to see if you agree.
Were you surprised at the kind of media attention your being signed for Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Heroine’ generated?
Yes, I was. I didn’t think it would be so newsworthy. In fact, I did not know I had definitely got the part till I read about it in the papers. But it is always great to be talked about in the right way and I guess it got the hype because it was a part that was being looked at by many. Also being a part of such a film helps you get noticed. It increases my reach and will help me get more work, especially since I am not a very media savvy person and quite private.
What drew you to ‘Heroine’? Was it Madhur’s work or the part?
I like a lot of Madhur’s films, but not all. ‘Chandni Bar’ and ‘Page 3’ were wonderful. I found the part very interesting and the relationship of my character in relation to the heroine. I also liked what the film was saying about fame – that sometimes you have to choose between real, earthy love and something more ethereal like fame and do you squander everything for fame and do you end up happy? This thought is very much a part of the industry I work in and I know Madhur is capable of handling the subject.
After your hunky act in ‘Aisha’ and the 20-plus kisses in ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’, you became quite a heartthrob. Do you enjoy the attention?
I find it highly amusing but I am also grateful. I look back at my 10,000 lonely nights and think nothing has changed, but people are talking about me. However, on the downside, the result of taking off your shirt in ‘Aisha’ and showing a set of abs is that I am approached for other himbo roles.
The industry is rather quick to stereotype.
I am capable of a lot more and I don’t think people have got me yet. But I have faith that I will slowly educate people on what I can do and what I am about.
So then why did you take the part of Dhruv in ‘Aisha’?
I chose it because the role was interesting – of an unapologetic single guy who gets nowhere with the girl he’s keen on.
You don’t come from a family of actors. What attracted you to the profession?
It began in school where we had very good extra-curricular activities. I was nine-years-old and our arts teacher showed us two movies, ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ and ‘On The Waterfront’. They had me hooked. I also participated in dramatics in school and won drama awards. I was bitten by the bug and have been a monster since. At first my family was highly amused but they are always supportive as long as I am happy.
Of course they are proud now, but they were always proud, even when I was living on scraps in New York. I did my under-grad degree in the US and then went to acting school, after which I did odd jobs as a waiter, bouncer etc to survive. I also did plays in London.
What brought you to Mumbai?
I really wanted to act and life in New York and London was getting tough. It was hard to get a visa and money, especially after 9/11. I also felt there was enough good cinema in Mumbai. Even though I was culturally divorced from Bollywood I was ready to take a chance. I had a list of directors I wanted to work with and I came here with the intention of meeting them. The most accessible was Sudhir Mishra. His door is always open and I walked into his office one day and through him, met Piyush Jha. Fortunately for me, the guy finalised for the part dropped out and I auditioned for it and got cast as Quadir in ‘Sikandar’.
You are currently shooting Ishraq Shah’s political drama ‘Ek Bura Aadmi’ in Udaipur. What is it about?
It’s the story of how a young boy gets interested in how power is acquired and used in his town. He pays attention to the ways in which different people like MLAs and police acquire and use power. As he grows older he tries to help his town; he wants it to improve. The conflict point comes when his mentor (Raghuvir Yadav) stands for the post of a local MLA. That’s when this guy (me) realises that life is not so simple and to be powerful you need to be feared and respected.
And then there’s the curiously titled ‘Buddha in a Traffic Jam’.
Yes, we have finished principal shooting for that film in which I play a bright, arrogant MBA student who gets manipulated by his professor to do things that have real world repercussions. It’s slightly dark. You would have to ask director Vivek Agnihotri about the title’s significance but I interpret it to mean that enlightenment, new ideas and thoughts are stuck in a traffic jam.
The roles seem to be pretty diverse, are you enjoying that?
Yes, the approach to each character is different. Whether it’s ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’ or ‘Mirch’, I like doing subtle, different things, at least for myself. I have two films that are on floors and another that will start soon so I really can’t complain.
Four released films later, are you satisfied with the way your career is shaping up?
It’s all going as expected, more or less. The work is fantastic, I adore what I do and I get paid for it. I am getting to do what I have always wanted to do. The rest takes some getting used to – the infringement of privacy, the networking and attending parties – I need to develop the skill set for those things. But Mumbai has been good to me. It’s got some really great people hidden away who I seem to have gravitated towards.