I also want to be Hrithik Roshan: Ruslaan

By Subhash K Jha

Though he looks and plays 17 in Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar (MP3) he's all of 24. At 17 he had fallen in love just the way shown in the film.

"Many of the scenes in my debut film seem to be straight out of my own life when I was 17," says Ruslaan whose second film is almost ready.

"I was involved with a girl for several years. I didn't run away to Paris to meet my girlfriend like my character in MP3. But I did lie to my parents and run away to meet my girlfriend in Mahabaleshwar once. She was the absolute apple of my eye."

So what happened to a love so intense? "It vanished, I guess. Once I got busy with my career as an actor I couldn't give her the same amount of time. She didn't like that. We decided to take a break.

I agreed thinking we'd be together again. After a while I went to her building and waited for four hours for her to come down and meet me. She never did. That's when I knew it was over between us."

Busy shooting his second film and on the verge of being signed for several new projects, Ruslaan wants no distractions from his work. "I've a large group of friends. But I hardly see them any longer. I don't go out in the evening because I want to reach the sets looking fresh the next morning. Yeah, I do miss a normal life. But I'd rather spend my free time watching movies, working out and reading."

Work-outs proved a detriment to Ruslaan bagging his first film. "For the audition of MP3 I turned up looking extremely brawny.

I was told to get rid of all the muscles to look 17 for my part. I wasn't too keen to do that. I didn't want to make a chocolate-box hero's debut. Every aspirant wants to be Hrithik Roshan. I was no exception."

Ruslaan Mumtaz is the son of Bollywood's eternal mom Anjana Mumtaz. But having Mommie-Dearest around made no difference to Ruslaan's struggle as a wannabe star.

"Why just my mom? I learnt dancing from Shiamak Davar. So I thought my mom's connections added to Shiamak's reputation would help me get an entry into Hindi films."