Exclusive: Playing Two Hugely Different Roles At The Same Time Has Confused Me; Says Ruslaan Mumtaaz

The guy with the boy-next-door-looks is one affable human being. He is currently juggling two things at a time, He is shooting for Laal Ishq an &TV episodic during the day and Zakhmi a web series from the Vikram Bhatt stable at night.

He does his best to infuse life into the characters he is given to play onscreen. Being dedicated and loving, his co-stars too have nothing but praises for him, and as a result share a bond that one barely sees in the times we are in and this facet in itself is more than laudable!

I caught up with Ruslaan to get to know more about his current ventures and his upcoming ones as well and in an exclusive chat he revealed quite a lot.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that the actor is sailing on two boats! And why shouldn’t he because it is working good for him!

Having said that, the experience he says has been pretty tedious, taxing and exacting. Quipped he, “Right now, I am shooting for Laal Ishq in the morning, and in the night, I am shooting for Vikram Bhatt’s web series Zakhmi. When I got Laal Ishq, I was already shooting for Vikram bhatt. I was shooting for Zakhmi in the night and for some reason I thought, I would give it a shot and do both of them together but when I am actually doing it, I have realised that it is not easy at all precisely because both the character are hell and heaven different.”

The disparity in the characters he is playing is humongous and to pull them off impeccably is surely a herculean task. He asserted, “In Zakhmi I am playing a filthy rich business tycoon which is why there are very many dialogues that are in Englsh and on the contrary in &TV’s Laal Ishq, I play a Banarasi guy who specialises in draping sarees on women and who works in a saree shop for a living. Therefore, it was a huge class and dialect difference. Which is why shooting for Laal Ishq during the day and then doing Zakhmi at night was laborious! I was literally lost. The style, the looks, the attires were completely different. On the first day all of it was fun but now I am really confused.

However, the actor inside this charming lad was euphoric! He was pretty happy that he got this opportunity to experiment. It was more like an exam to him, to judge himself whether he could do it or not! He insisted, “But as an actor these four days were really satisfying, when the shoot will wrap up and I will finally get to see both the series, even if no one else does, I would know, I did done them together.

“As an actor it is more of an accomplishment that two diverse characters are done simultaneously! Especially because they are two distinctive looks and that‘s what the challenge is. And an opportunity of this sort would have been possible only today because of the myriad avenues that have come into being – You have the television, you have films, the web series – There are so many different Indian entertainment apps.

From my conversation with him another thing that I inferred is that he is a director’s actor. He doesn’t really question the role rather he tries his best to imbue plausibility in the character with his performance. Claims he, “As an actor I donot judge the content, I am not writing it. If the character graph is in a particular manner. It is my job to internalise the character given to me. I don’t think any content on any medium is bad. They are just stories and stories have their own world. Stories can be bizzare, but it is the job of the actor to play the part convincingly."

Well, I kind of think, even though his views are glaringly opposed to most of the others in the industry, here is someone who is humble and doesn’t take false pride in his craft. He is just an actor and has submitted himself unto acting and the very meaning of the word. He doesn’t have tall claims and neither does he put up a show of any! As much as this facet is likeable in him, I personally feel, an actor should be worried about the content. Even though he is just an actor. Perhaps because of that very reason - He will make the character plausible but the taste of the consuming public will surely worsen. The thought process would be hampered, the want to consume content that forces you to think will lessen and spoon-feeding would become the norm.

Is that desirable?

Ruslaan are you listening?

Shedding more light on Vikram Bhatt’s latest web bases suspense thriller series Zakhmi he revealed, “It is a revenge drama where the wife is on the hunt for the killers of her husband. When she seeks help from the cops they refuse. That’s when she takes it up herself. However, things are not easy for a woman who is all by herself in this big bad world and she is raped by same men who killed her husband and is left to die. However, she returns with a vengeance!

Zakhmi stars Ruslaan Mumtaaz and Tia Bajpai in the lead roles. It is produced for the web by Vikram Bhatt and directed by Arbaaz Ali Moghul.

Ruslaan, Desimartini.com wishes you all the love and success and hope you succeed in all your future endeavours!