arjun rampal in karachi

Pakistani articles on arjuns visit to karachi with rohit bal for some high profile fashion event
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2006-...2006/instep.htm

A day and a night with Arjun Rampal




Arjun Rampal definitely managed to clean bowl Karachi at night but he also charmed Instep during the day


By Aamna Haider Isani




Talk about mind blowing finales. To have Arjun Rampal on stage would have been good enough for the many star struck girls at the Lux Carnival de Couture, but to have him walk up and spontaneously lift Indian model Carol in his arms and walk across the ramp brought the house down. The magical moment happened right after Rohit Bal's grand finale. Arjun, who hadn't catwalked all evening preferring to sit on a table like a boring chief guest, got up. And when he did, the most gushed about time of the evening began. It was a potent combination of catwalk confidence and a crowd pleasing instinct that has obviously been honed by Bollywood.

The proof was in the pudding. His interactive auction alone managed to earn a whopping two million for the fundraiser. What more could the audience have wished for? Here was a tall, handsome hunk of a star who was mingling with the people, especially the beautiful women of Karachi, for a good cause. The generous Naina in the audience became his casual chat partner and he flirtatiously bargained on taking a trip to London with her. He was humorous, as he referred to the press enclosure as the poor subjects who would never bid unless they owned the paper. With one artful swoosh, he played to the gallery and the press. It was magnificent. And showed that Arjun Rampal is very clued in, far more perhaps than a Bollywood heartthrob has the luxury of being projected as in India's Stardust–ised media industry.

That is what the Instep team discovered when we caught up with him over a cup of coffee. The perfunctory introduction was a revelation. Arjun Rampal has a warm handshake, the kind that grips your hand in an easy grip that conveys warmth without crushing. His demeanour is rather like his grip, relaxed but very focused. And so began an informal chat: Bombay compared to Karachi (he thought the traffic here was very disciplined!), his wife's car floating away in the monsoon floods, being mobbed by fans at Karachi Airport and even world politics.

Dressed in his true element – a pair of denims with a hot pink shirt and boots – he was every bit the model turned style savvy star with the urban cool of a world traveller. He was unfazed in unfamiliar surroundings. The only thing on his mind was lunch. "I want to go to Cafe Flo," he insisted to Shahzareah, Zeba Husein's daughter who was coordinating his meetings with the press. She told him it was closed on Sunday, but he said that he met Sonya Jehan on the plane and she promised that Florence Rizvi would open it for him. Sonya had obviously forgotten. Flo was closed and one waited with bated breath for the infamous star tantrum but it didn't come. He happily agreed to eat Thai cuisine at Royal Elephant instead.

Arjun speaks in a slow, ***y drawl and looks you straight in the eye as if there's no one else in the room. He keeps alternating a smile with an intense look and he keeps punctuating his sentences with the word "okay", as if carefully explaining something to a child while at the same time ensuring that you agree with what he's saying. Not that he has problems getting attentive listeners. Women probably hang on to every word he says, and that's no surprise. The surprising part is that he has a lot to say. Arjun Rampal may be drop dead gorgeous but he is no 'himbo'.

This six–footer is well informed on what is happening in his own country and around the world. He asked about the attack on Zawahiri that he had gotten wind of while watching CNN in his hotel room. "What was that about?" he wondered out loud and voiced his opinion on the problems plaguing the world right now. "I am against all wars. I have traveled a lot and I have found that it is governments who go to war, not people," he mused in measured tones. Issues beyond the escapist realms of mainstream Bollywood obviously concern him.

After all, he comes from a multi cultural family. His father is Sikh and mother Dutch, so he will be the last person to agree with the clash of civilizations. Add to this multi faceted upbringing the fact that he comes from one of the great cosmopolitan cities of the world and is a true jetsetter (it's a professional hazard) rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bono and Naomi Campell and you have a Indian actor who is true citizen of the world.

Probably expecting a cliched question answer session, Arjun chatted away with absolute ease until he found out that this was the interview. "No, no," he exclaimed, obviously perturbed to be caught off guard and evidently wary of vicious journalists. "These women are too intense. They're making me sound political. Let this be entertaining, yaar." Sorry Arjun, you had a lot more interesting things to say than your favourite film and your favourite colour, and that is far more than we can say for the more guarded stars we've met.


And this political side of him came out later that night at the Lux Carnival de Couture. He kept referring to the sub continent in general, alluding to the need for more India–Pakistan interaction. "It would be nice to see it develop as a force as strong as the European Union," he said. With the similarities India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal had, there should be a common currency and open visas. His optimism shone through when he mentioned that some day the rupee should be valued as the international yardstick of monetary success. "You're bidding rupees," he said. "Not dollars, so don't get a heart attack. Though there will be a day when Americans will say we wish we had one million rupees. Woh din aaye ga." And the creme of society went wild.
The crowd that night was no ordinary crowd. It comprised aristocrats and professionals, CEOs of banks and advertising agencies, businessmen and stockbrokers, MNAs and MPAs and of course fashionistas and begums. It wasn't an easy crowd to please and Arjun managed to charm them with ease, totally extempore without a paper or teleprompter in sight. Yes, he passed the Temptations tour with Shahrukh Khan and company with flying colours, but these were not exactly the Bollywood hungry minions. It was a discerning crowd that put the whole show on trial. But at the end, the verdict was unanimous – Arjun Rampal made the evening. From the moment he swept up a woman in his arms to the moment gallantly kissed her hand and till the organizers decided to end the auction. He single handedly managed to overshadow all else – despite wearing a dull grey suit.


It was during this time that the morning's conversation came flooding back. "You know, I used to have terrible stage fright," Arjun had admitted. "Now I get my energy from the audience. They all react, no matter where and they're all the same. It's all about having fun." And one could see him pushing the right buttons, saying the things that will make people scream for more. Picking up the Naina in the audience, a woman ready and willing to banter with him and using the platform to let loose a flurry of one liners that elicited claps, wolf whistles and a million oohs and aahs. It was a star in action in a way that Karachi really hadn't witnessed before.

We were on the second pot of coffee and Arjun's manager Alistair and my colleague on their zillionth cigarette when the conversation eventually steered towards films. And juxtaposing national progress with films, Arjun optimistically commented that the Indian film industry was moving fast. There's a certain planning that needed to go into t