Actors are the least powerful people in the industry: Arjun

Arjun Mathur (right) got his first big break when he played the protagonist in the short film Positive (2007), which was directed by film-maker and actor Farhan Akhtar. Soon after, he was featured alongside Farhan in Luck By Chance (2009).

While Arjun feels there’s “a lot of content, but no quality” in the film industry, he says, “It’s [mainstream Bollywood] something nobody can shake. It’s too deeply ingrained in our collective psyche. There will always be people launching their own kin, who will in turn develop six-pack abs and enter the same existing ‘hero’ mould. You could interchange actors in these films and nobody will even be able to tell.”

He further adds, “An actor is the least powerful person in the industry. Not much more than a talking prop — completely dependent — whereas, a director gets the chance to execute his/her own vision.” Arjun, who has assisted film-makers such as Ketan Mehta, Shaad Ali and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra in the past, plans to don the director’s hat in the future.

Arjun will be next seen in Brij Mohan Amar Rahe. “Other than Indian Summers (a UK TV series) and my cameos in Waiting (2015) and Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), my last feature was Coffee Bloom (2015). Brij Mohan Amar Rahe is the first featurefilm I have taken up in three years, because nothing I was being offered was exciting enough. I’ve been hungry for something to be able to sink my teeth into, and now I have it.”