Mumbai. Film City's Helipad location for the shooting of the forthcoming Vipul Shah movie Aankhen, in India's sweltering December heat. As I climb to the top of the mini mountain I wonder why anyone would want to get closer to the sun and shoot so high until I reach the peak and see the view. It's a fitting location for the man I am about to meet, because his ascent too has been swift and one that has reached a height unfathomable for a newcomer in such a short time. But as you're about to learn, Arjun Rampal, the heartthrob actor who's causing hysteria back in London, has no idea of the scale of his success.

When I meet Arjun he's about to give a shot with Akshay Kumar, and after the introductions, he tells me to chill and relax in his room where it's cooler and he'll be with me in a minute. Sporting what looks like a tight fitting M&S black top, he enters his room disgruntled to find the AC isn't working and so promptly shifts us to another room. As the day goes by we get chatting. I tell him about the UK's response to his movies, he tells me about what he's up to and how I better get used to the heat because it never gets cold in Mumbai. He's called for another shot, then it's time for a lunch break. Against my own judgement I give in to his requests and eat lunch, although I have reservations after suffering from food poisoning the day before (not from his food may I add). After eating he has another shot when I fall asleep only to be woken by his baritone voice booming "Arrey mera dost so gaya!" as he walks in smiling. Sensing he can't leave me alone for a few minutes without me catching forty winks, he invites me onto the sets to watch the last shot before a brief break. After that, back in the now-cooler and AC-adjusted room, we begin our interview.

"When I was a little boy my mind kept changing as to what I wanted to be, according to the needs of my family," he tells me with those deep dark eyes fixed on my sleepy beady ones.
"When we didn't have a car I wanted to be a taxi driver, and when my father used to smoke cigarettes I wanted to be a paanwallah so I could sell cigarettes to him! But I think most of all I wanted to be very sporty and excel in sports because that's what I really loved. I loved watching athletics and doing athletics too like the 400 metres race; I excelled in that but then gave it up, but that was one thing I would really have liked to do."

Arjun sits relaxed in his chair, paying careful attention to my every question yet answering everything I throw his way casually and given he's just fed me a delicious lunch it's pretty hard for me not to settle into a laidback mood too. Arjun may be a new face for many of us, but at home in India he's already a known celebrity from his high profile modelling resume. I ask how the boy who wanted to be in athletics ventured into modelling and again the reassuring smile returns.

"It just happened man!" he says rocking back slightly in his chair with a laugh.
"I was at the stage where I had just finished school and was about to join college, and I was at a nightclub called RJ's in Bombay, which was quite a happening nightclub at that time. Mr Rohit Bal saw me there and he asked me if I was interested in modelling. I didn't know him because I was not into modelling and was not into fashion either so I thought he was just pulling my leg. Then he gave me his card and said 'Give me a call if you're interested'. I went to Delhi for college and while there went to another nightclub called Ghungroo and I met him there, because he's from Delhi and he recognised me. I thought this guy was serious and he said 'It'd be good pocket money so why don't you just try it? I'm sure you'll be good at it.' So I thought ok and gave it a shot. One afternoon I started my bike, went to this shoot and in this hot, sweltering heat we shot with a photographer whose first shoot it was too, and the next day when I saw the pictures I was completely blown! I was like 'This is the way I look? What is this!' I mean the only photograph I had seen of mine was one taken on those normal cameras and at that time even those were pretty bad, so I really thought this was really good, and he said you can do it, so it sort of turned out that the photographer Rohit was a family friend and we became close and I started modelling. So I owe it to him in a way that I got into this field and it started from there, suddenly I realised there's a complete profession in it, I moved to Bombay and things just changed, my life just…changed."

He tells the story of a simple twist of fate that changed his life as though it still comes as a surprise to him. He laughs in between in disbelief at how things have happened and smiles as though he's telling someone else's story of how fortune has favoured a good friend of his, such is the humility of Arjun Rampal, the new kid on the block who has sent waves rippling across international waters in the space of a few months. It's not that hard to believe why he doesn't quite sound assured when I tell him how well he's doing overseas, since he is such a down-to-earth guy. He's genuinely happy at the public enthusiasm to his work and the acceptance by the international audience and when I tell him about the incident at a certain cinema in London where a small crowd of onlookers formed to gaze at his picture on a Pyaar Ishq aur Mohabbat poster, his eyes widen with joy, "What are you saying man!" exclaims telling me this is stuff I should be telling his producers, which neatly leads me to asking how the good looking boy-turned model came across the world of films.

"I was shooting a commercial with Shekhar Kapur and Ashok Mehta was the cameraman for that, that's when I met him for the first time," he says again making certain he acknowledges all the milestones who have helped further his career.
"We spent ten days together and then he said 'I've got this script and I think you should read it'. I said I have no idea about acting and he said 'Everybody acts, I'll make you act, don't worry about that' and I still said that I didn't want to do it and that I'm really not into it. Plus I was going abroad to model in London and New York for a year so he said 'It'll take me about that much time to set it up, so just think about it deeply and let me know'. I thought about it a lot and read the script and really liked it and while I was in New York modelling I made a lot of friends from NYU Film School who were studying Filmmaking, and I was quite intrigued too about going behind the camera at that point and I wanted to study it. When I came back to Bombay after a year and was going to back to the States to study filmmaking and model at the same time, Ashokji was still there with the same confidence and perseverance that I just said let's try it. I thought I'd do six months of modelling and do six months there and six months here and see how it goes. When I got into it I was hooked from day one…up until now."

His eyes narrow as he smiles again, with a look that suggests he has for now found what he's been searching for. He was unaware of modelling and his good looks but after the cajoling of others gave it a shot, the same with films and now he's smugly living and breathing films. Spot him on the sets of Aankhen where he plays a blind man and see how with joyous enthusiasm he shows off his Braille watch that helps the blind man tell time. Even if he's giving a shot wearing dark glasses he won't look at who he's talking to just as a blind man can't and he loves doing what he's doing right now, (which is probably a good thing considering a lot of people seem to too).

"Also when I got into acting I realised I can't do both professions at the same time so I gave up modelling completely, so I wasn't making any money or being distracted by any other work, I only wanted to concentrate on this film (Moksh) and get it right. It took a lot of time but nobody anticipated that and it was ok because throughout I was learning a lot. It was a transitional time where the more I learnt the more comfortable I got in front of the camera as an actor. I saw good results and that just kept me going, and then Rajiv Rai happened," he says once more, matter-of-factly.
"I knew him from before as I had done a music video with him and he told me 'You're versatile and you should get into acting' and I said no way and again he too said 'let's see' and then he went abroad, came back saw some of my rushes from Moksh and Jadh and got really excited. That's literally how Pyaar Ishq aur Mohabbat happened which completely changed the Indian film industry and audiences everywhere suddenly realised this is the guy who's coming into films, which is something that never happened with Moksh because it was a very underplayed thing. Rajiv's film had a big banner, a big director and people woke up to it and offers started really pouring in."

I ask if the filmi press who have cultivated a Casanova image of the new heartthrob (which I can say is not true) have ever got to him, given he's only been in the industry a short while and hasn't escaped the jaws of gossip columnists and critics alike. He exhales a breath of dismissal and shakes his head a little saying:
"See, my philosophy is very simple. I want to make films to entertain audiences and make them feel happy and if they're happy I'm happy (smiles). So if a film critic doesn't like you, that's too bad for him, because I'd rather make five million people happy than try to make just five people happy or five magazines happy. A lot of times people misquote, misinterpret things and write gossip which I guess sells their magazines in today's world, which is sad. If that's the way someone makes their livelihood then good for them, but it doesn't affect me at all because I know who I am. I work hard at what I do which is entertain people to put a smile on their face, make a tear roll down their eyes and that's what's important to me, that's my creativity and the job I do. I'm only concerned with that and don't bother about all these other things."

In the span of three films Arjun has played a romantic hero, a lover scorned and an action man, so already he is working against the grain of typecasting. He agrees this is a conscious move as he doesn't want an expectation to arise from his name about the genre of the movie such that people associate him only as an action hero or a romantic one. Given the scenes I've witnessed on the sets today, his comedic timing is certainly something that's taken me by surprise. So he explains why with him you can never tell what to expect.

"I don't want to create an image where I'm known for doing action or comedy or just romantic roles. I think I'd like to surprise the audience each time and as I grow as an actor I want to go beyond their expectations of me and surpass it so by the next film they expect more from me, that's my challenge."

Given this is his first full fledged UK interview, I ask him what he thinks of London and he smiles once more.
"I've lived in London and modelled there while I was working and I had a great time there. I was staying at Notting Hill Gate and it was great fun, some good experience and some great Chinese food," he says laughing.

A knock on the door informs him he is needed elsewhere and he says he's doing an interview to buy us some more time, so I wrap things up with the new hunk who's wooing the world by asking him to give a message directly to his fans. He thinks for a second then holds the dictafone close and says:

"I promise my fans that every film I'll do is one that I believe in and is done with sincerity, nobody wants to make bad films, sometimes you get it right sometimes you don't but I'll always try to never disappoint them. Whatever work I do it's because I believe in it."

Knowing I have a little more time I can't resist asking what is fast becoming my trademark question and an inside joke among some circles. I ask which ability he would most like to possess: the ability to fly, be invisible or go back in time.
"Wow," is his response, before he answers with a smile. Thinking out loud he talks me through his logic and eliminates them one by one saying:
"I wouldn't like to be invisible because then I'd find out things I wasn't meant to. I wouldn't want to go back in time because I prefer to live in the present, and so I guess that leaves just one option: I'd like to fly. I'd like to see what it's like to be a bird, high in the sky, it's something everyone wants to do, if I could fly for a day I'd fly."

Little does he know he already is. Arjun Rampal has been launched into the sky and he's already being looked up to by many with eyes full of wonder and amazement. He's achieving a star status and becoming more and more out of reach as each day goes by because he's flying so high and he doesn't even know it. That's why Arjun will continue to succeed, because whatever magic is in him, he doesn't even realise he has it…all he knows…is he wants to touch his fans' hearts and make them smile.

Fuad Omar.