ARJUNA RAMPAL

ARJUNA RAMPAL - Film Actor

Arjun Rampal - (born 26 November 1972) was born in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. Gwen Rampal, his mother is a half- Dutch woman. Arjun along with his sister attended the Kodaikanal International School situated at Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu, where his mother was a teacher. His maternal grandmother is from Holland who got married to his grandfather while he was fighting Japanese invasion at Burma. They got divorced and his mother brought him up as a single parent. His maternal grandfather, Brigadier Gurdayal Singh, was an army personality, an efficient engineer, he had contributed in making guns for GCF factory situated in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradhesh. The factory has a special gun named after his grandfather. The gun is named ‘Gurdayal Gun. He had spent his teenage days at Devlali, Nasik, where his grandfather got settled after retirement. Arjun went on to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hindu College in Delhi. 

Rampal made his acting debut in Rajiv Rai's Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat (2001) opposite Sunil Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani and Kirti Reddy. The film was a failure at the box office but Rampal gave a show stealing performance and earned all the attention. He earned critical acclaim for his performance in the movie. This established Rampal as a leading actor in the Indian film industry. He was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut but swapped the awards in the Best Male Debut category at the Star Screen and IIFA ceremonies.

His next release was Ashu Trikha's Deewaanapan, in which Rampal was paired with Dia Mirza. He earned critical acclaim for his performance but the film flopped at the box office. His last release of the year was Ashok Mehta's Moksha. It was actually his first film but was released after Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat. Rampal was paired with famous actress Manisha Koirala in a lead role in Moksha. This film marked Rampal's third consecutive flop at the box office but Rampal earned critical acclaim.

 

Rampal's first release of 2002 was Vipul Amrutlal Shah's Aankhen, in which Rampal starred in an ensemble cast featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen and Paresh Rawal. He played the role of a blind person. The film was ranked above average at box office and became the fourth-highest grossing Bollywood film of 2002, thus becoming Rampal's first hit movie.^[15] However, Rampal received negative reviews from critics. His next release was Kundan Shah's Dil Hai Tumhaara opposite Rekha, Preity Zinta, Mahima Chaudhry and Jimmy Shergill. The film was a flop. Rampal did not get much scope in the film as it was a female-centric story. The movie received mixed reviews. 

In 2003, Rampal played a lead role in Naresh Malhotra's Dil Ka Rishta opposite Aishwarya Rai. Rampal earned critical acclaim for his performance but the film was a failure at the box office. It was ranked the thirtieth film of the year on the basis of box office collections. Rampal's next role was in Khalid Mohammed's Tehzeeb opposite Urmila Matondkar. Rampal played a Muslim in the film. The film was a critical success but Rampal's role went unnoticed once again due to a female-centric movie.

Rampal's career was becoming a failure as his films were consecutively flopping but his talent got him a lead role in Rajiv Rai's action thriller Asambhav. It was Rampal's second project with Rai as the two had previously worked together in Rampal's debut movie Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat. Rampal starred opposite Priyanka Chopra and played the role of an Indian commando Captain Aditya Arya. The film was entirely shot in Switzerland. Released on 23 July 2004, Asambhav was Rampal's only release of the year. It flopped at the box office. Although the story of the film was criticized, Rampal received mixed to negative reviews for his first action role. 

Rampal's first release of 2005 was Satish Kaushik's Vaada, in which he played a lead role opposite Ameesha Patel and Zayed Khan. The film was a flop but Rampal earned critical acclaim for his performance of a blind person.Rampal's next release was Vikram Bhatt's multi-starrer action film Elaan. The film managed to do well and became an average-grosser at the box office. It was Rampal's second hit movie in his career and first hit in three years. Rampal received critical appreciation for his performance in Elaan. 

Rampal's third release of the year was Yakeen, in which Rampal was paired in a lead role with Priyanka Chopra for the second time. This film was also a failure. However, Rampal received acclaim for improving his emotive acting as he had received negative response for his week emotional display. Rampal's last release of 2005 was Apoorva Lakhia's Ek Ajnabee opposite Amitabh Bachchan and Perizaad Zorabian. This film featured Rampal in his first negative role as Shekhar Verma, the bodyguard of a child, but is actually a corrupted person. His first release of 2006 was the love triangle based Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai opposite Bobby Deol and Ameesha Patel. His next appearance was the multi-starrer anthology Darna Zaroori Hai. Rampal starred in the story "Spirits Do Come" opposite Bipasha Basu and Makrand Deshpande, directed by Prawal Raman. Despite a star cast, the film flopped at the box office.

Following the success of Om Shanti Om, Rampal started to rise as a successful actor. In 2008, Rampal gave an excellent performance in Rock On!! as Joseph "Joe" Mascarenhas, the lead guitarist of a band, a poor idealist who never learned that self-promotion is more important than music in a remixed world. Rampal learned guitar to prepare for his role. His performance was widely acclaimed, earning him the prestigious National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 56th National Film Awards, Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award at the 54th Filmfare Awards, IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 10th IIFA Awards and Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor. This brought wider success and acclaim to Rampal. Later that year, he starred in Rituparno Ghosh's English-language arthouse film The Last Lear, alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was received well at a number of other film festivals. Upon its theatrical release in India, Rampal got favourable reviews for his performance. He gave a show-stealing performance. His last release of the year EMI was a flop at the box office.

Rampal's only release of 2009 was Deepak Tijori's Fox, in which he starred opposite Sunny Deol, Sagarika Ghatge and Udita Goswami. The film mainly received negative reviews and flopped at the box office but Rampal earned critical acclaim. Taran Adarsh praised Rampal's performance as perfect. 2010 would go on to become the most successful year of Rampal's career with three back to back hits. The first was Sajid Khan's comedy film Housefull, in which he starred in a supporting role. The film received negative reviews but became a huge hit at the box office. Rampal's next release was Prakash Jha's multi-starrer Raajneeti. Rampal received critical acclaim for his supporting role of Prithvi in the movie. He was nominated for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. He won the award in the Best Supporting Actor at the IIFA, Apsara and Zee Cine categories. His last release of the year was Siddharth Malhotra and Karan Johar's We Are Family, in which he played a lead role opposite Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. It was an average grosser and Rampal's first successful movie that featured him in a lead role

In 2011, Rampal played the titular negative role in Anubhav Sinha's science fiction movie Ra.One. The movie became a successful film in India and overseas and received mixed reviews. Rampal's new bald look earned him a lot of appreciation and popularity within the audiences. Majority of the fans considered his Ra.One look to be better than the protagonist G.One. He earned critical acclaim for his villainous performance. Rampal had three releases in 2012: Madhur Bhandarkar's Heroine, Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh and the comedy movie Ajab Gazabb Love, with all three failing at the box office. However, Rampal earned critical acclaim for his performances. In Heroine, Rampal essayed the role of Aryan Khanna, a well-known actor, starring opposite Kareena Kapoor. The movie failed to become a success at the box office with an earning of Rs. 225 million (US$4.1 million) nett at the weekend. It was declared belowaverage by Box Office India. 

In Chakravuyh, Rampal essayed the role of a police officer SP Adil Khan, starring opposite Abhay Deol, Esha Gupta, Manoj Bajpai, Om Puri and Anjali Patil. The film grossed Rs. 158.8 million (US$2.89 million) in the first week. However, Rampal earned critical acclaim for his performance as a police officer. In Ajab Gazabb Love, Rampal essayed the double role of twin brothers Karan and Arjun, based on the popular duo of Karan Arjun from the hit 1995 film of the same name. Though the film flopped at the box office, Rampal earned critical acclaim for his double role performance. His first release of 2013 was Sudhir Mishra's Inkaar opposite Chitrangada Singh. Though the film flopped at the box office, Rampal earned positive reviews for his critically acclaimed performance by critics and audiences. 

Arjun Rampal married former Miss India and supermodel Mehr Jesia and they have two daughters, Mahikaa, born on 17 January 2002 and Myra, born June 2005. He was first spotted by Rohit Bal in a night club who went on to showcase him in his collections and Arjun stayed with him before making a move to Mumbai.