Arjun Rampal PROFILE
Arjun Rampal made his mark as a model while still studying in Hindu College Delhi at the age of 17. Arjun Rampal was discovered by fashion designer Rohit Bal at a discotheque. In 1994, he was proclaimed "Society's face of the year". He did his schooling in Kodaikanal in a boarding school, and while growing up did not have any consciousness of his looks. He was a very mischievous kid. Arjun insists that when he went to college, he was the one who was getting attracted to the girls in his class and not the other way around. He says that he's always been confident about himself. Initially keen on making a career internationally, Arjun soon encountered the harsh realities of the international scene.
Though the experience helped him mature as an individual, he says. He debuted with Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat which did not do well, followed by Deewanapan, 'Jadh', Moksh and Aankhen. Even though most of these films flopped, he remained undaunted by his failures and preferred to dig his heels in. He tasted success finally with Farhan Akhtar's Don The Chase begins Again in 2006, where he played a supporting role. The film was a remake of the original Don which starred Amitabh Bachchan and Rampal played the role made famous by Pran. 2007 was by far his best year as he had the biggest hit of his career, Om Shanti Om, where he played the villain opposite Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. He was on a roll by now, and in 2008, he was seen in two movies, Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear opposite Bachchan and Preity Zinta and Abhishek Kapoor's Rock On!' opposite Farhan Akhtar, also the producer. This was a role which won him rave reviews and a lot of fans.
The actor also received the National and the Filmfare awards for 'Best Supporting Actor' for his role in the movie. 2010 has been a good year for him as he has already had three releases so far, Sajid Khan's Housefull, Prakash Jha's Rajneeti and Siddharth Anand's We Are Family. The last mentioned was his latest release and had him pitted against Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. The film which was based on Hollywood flick 'Stepmom', had him playing the role of Ed Harris from the original. The actor was next seen in Shah Rukh Khan's magnum opus Ra.One'. Although the film was based on the villain, Arjun's character was hardly seen on screen for half an hour. The film did not do too well at the box-office. In the end of the year, he was seen in the Ajay Devgn-Sanjay Dutt starrer Rascals.
In 2012, his first release was Madhur Bhandarkar's Heroine. Although the film did not find much appreciation, Kareena Kapoor was applauded for her work. Arjun Rampal was next seen in Ajab Gazabb Love and Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh. Although both the films got mixed reviews, his performance was appreciated. He was next seen in Sudhir Mishra's Inkaar, opposite Chitrangda Singh. His future projects include, Satyagraha, directed by Prakash Jha, and D-Day, directed by Nikhil Advani.