Hey 90s kids, remember drooling over a flurry of models that made it to the big screen back in the day (almost all of them around the same time)? Of course you do.
Bipasha Basu (with or without Jism) & Co commanded the attention of men for the majority of the previous decade while the women hit jackpot with as likes of John Abraham, Dino Morea and Arjun Rampal followed in the footsteps of the Milind Somans from their previous generation.
Cut to today and most of the women are in the heyday of their Bollywood careers (Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma are from a different generation and class of actors FYI). Even Dino, whose career fizzed out after a promising start, and John, who has now diverted his time and energy towards building his own business empire, are past their prime.
But all of 44, Arjun Rampal is still hitting the ball out of the park. (You have to check out the trailer of his next release Daddy, which hits theatres this Friday, in case you don’t believe us.)
And why are we even surprised? The same sexy baritone and gorgeously sharp jawline that swept everyone off their feet in his 2001 debut Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat have been channeled into non-nonchalant badassery of the criminal he is portraying in the film.
In the trailer, Arjun effortlessly brings out the grey shades in his acting skill set that have been on display every since his first dark role in Apoorv Lakhia’s Ek Ajnabee. The 2005 film might have followed a string of flops for the model-turned actor, but his performances were hardly under fire even earlier.
Then came his breakthrough with Don the following year and more negative roles flooded in with Om Shanti Om and Ra.One. And just FYI, he disappointed in neither.
As things stand today, the Bollywood hunk has earned praise for films ranging from Rock On (that bagged him a National Award) and Rajneeti to Inkaar and Housefull. The Jabalpur-born even runs his own production house with wife Mehr Jesia.
And while Arjun Rampal might not boast of a following quantitatively comparable to the Khans, which other model-turned-actor comes close to him?
