Don’t go by his smiling face because Arun Govil doesn’t seem to have anything worth smiling about, as far as his career is concerned. The actor who immortalised Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s epic Ramayan on TV a decade ago says he doesn’t “find anything exciting to work in.”
Currently seen in Woh Hue Na Hamare on DD, produced by Anurradha Prasad, Govil plays a man with two wives.
Considering he has played the role of the ideal man ‘Ram’, it’s a little surprising to see him with two women. “Actually, it’s not that he has two wives,” he says, before contradicting himself, “Yes, he’s married twice but certain circumstances make him marry another woman, that’s it.”
Ask him about the character he plays and he throws a googly. “I don’t know much about it except that it’s a positive character. He suffers from partial amnesia but regarding where the story is going or how his character will develop is something I have no idea of. It isn’t a bound script,” he says wryly.
Govil, a man of few words, has another project, a serial with Ashim Samanta (son of filmmaker Shakti Samanta) for Star Plus “but I’m bound by contract, so I can’t tell you much except that it’s a positive character but a very different one.”
{{/usCountry}}Govil, a man of few words, has another project, a serial with Ashim Samanta (son of filmmaker Shakti Samanta) for Star Plus “but I’m bound by contract, so I can’t tell you much except that it’s a positive character but a very different one.”
{{/usCountry}}The actor, who’s still not been able to shake off the ‘Ram’ image considering he isn’t offered varied parts, says, “It’s fine by me if people can’t see me beyond Ram. If God has chosen me to play his part and if I have got all that I have be cause of that one role, why should I fight it?
It’s not that I have not tried to break the image but it’s not worked for me.
The kind of respect I get even now because of Ram is something I don’t think I could have got even if I had acted in 100 films or done 50 serials.
Yes, after Ramayan, I did a lot less than my contemporaries. Playing Ram did limit me as an actor but I don’t regret it. Maybe I was made for this.”
Ask him how times have changed in the working pattern and he says, “They are poles apart."
"You don’t have scripts today and actors are called in to work at any point of the day or night to shoot only because they have a deadline to meet. The working pattern is a big rush today and that’s why I don’t feel excited enough to take up anything. I’m taking it easy.”
And on that note we leave Arun ‘Ram’ Govil in ‘relax’ mode.