Made In Heaven Actor Arjun Mathur Couldn¡¯t Believe He¡¯s Nominated For Emmys, Thought His Name Was Printed By Mistake

Arjun Mathur- Meet the man who won hearts with his stellar performance in Made In Heaven. He has been working in the industry for 11 years and finally got the recognition which he was longing for. The actor is nominated as Emmys Award in the best actor category, That¡¯s BIG!

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Indiatimes got exclusively candid with the actor where we spoke to him about the nomination at Emmys, his journey, insider/outsider debate, drugs in Bollywood and more.

Arjun happily obliged every question.

Literally, I didn¡¯t believe, I thought it¡¯s a mistake, a lie, or some misprint

To begin with, we asked him about his first feeling when he heard about being nominated as Emmys in the best actor category and he said,

¡°Literally I didn¡¯t believe, I got a call from Sayani Gupta, her show is also nominated. She was like, have you heard the news and I got scared wondering what bad news is she going to give me. And then she was like check your messages and I saw the article which had my name as a nominee, I could not believe it-at all, I thought ye mazak hai, or some mistakes, a lie or some misprint, it took me about 10 to 15 minutes to understand that what I am reading is real. Then I got a call from everyone and then it started becoming more real, it¡¯s quite surreal.¡±

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Of course, I hope that someday I will go international and make everyone proud

Indeed he has come a long way, we quizzed if he feels he has finally made it, to which he said,

¡° To be honest I don¡¯t know what the real concept of making it is. When we start doing what we start doing of course we fantasize ki Oscar award Jaayenge, ye award jayenge, but you have to kind of submit to the universe that it will make that happen to you. We can only do the best we can, which I have always tried to do. I can¡¯t say ki haan muje pata tha ki aisa hone waala hai. I didn¡¯t know that, how can I know that? Of course, I hoped, that someday I may go international and will be able to do something that will be a matter of pride and not just for me, but friends and family.¡±

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When I started I knew only one thing - that being an actor is being a Hindi film hero

Asked if he was insecure about not getting lead roles in commercial Bollywood films, and he said, ¡°When I started., I knew only one thing that being an actor is being a Hindi film hero. The first project I took a homosexual role was not an active choice I made. It was my first break and any aspiring actor would take that who is getting directed by Mira Nair and getting to work with Irrfan Khan. That was not my choice ki haan I want to do something different, it was because I thought it was a marvelous opportunity at that time."

"Where commercial Bollywood is concerned, I started realising what I thought of playing lead actor, I wouldn¡¯t get here, the reality is different, there are many factors that come in the place and commercial Bollywood was trying to slot me in the best friend zone which I was not happy about."

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Of course I wanted to do leading roles, and that is why I started focusing more on smaller films and independent films which were not seen by as many people were not distributed as widely but they were giving me creative satisfaction, giving me leading roles and projects were on my shoulder. So I focused more on working in that zone and today I am really happy. I have been able to focus on characters and scripts and not about box office pressures and things like that and it¡¯s only that thinking and walking on that path today has brought me to peculiar recognition.¡±

This industry belongs to nobody¡¯s father

We quizzed the actor about the ups and downs in his journey, he said, ¡°It¡¯s wasn¡¯t easy and I don¡¯t think it will ever be, primarily because I think actors' lives are generally very much part of the territory, for an actor to walk outside through insecurity, self-doubt envy and jealously all those things are part of the process and we can¡¯t help it, that primarily is a difficult thing.

As I said that, I realised quite early what these systems are. Have been through the whole process and emotions, faced all these heartbreaks and felt really hopeless, I have been through the whole cycle. I want all the aspiring actors to know this industry belongs to nobody and nobody¡¯s father.

And the second thing is, comparison is your devil, we are all unique and we have to love and respect our own journey. I think it¡¯s very easy to cry and whine about how things are and how evil the industry is and all, and I feel much more sense is to keep your head down and keep walking."

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"When I was a kid, my father and school teacher used to think I am good for nothing, I was like 'achcha who are you to tell me? I will show what I can do?' Honestly, that¡¯s the best way. One shouldn¡¯t cry too much and wash their dirty laundry in public, it¡¯s better to keep working, let your work speak for yourself, eventually that will take longer but that journey will be respectable in your own eyes and that¡¯s more important.¡±

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During the lockdown, I ended up drinking a lot of alcohol than I otherwise do

We all are going through a difficult phase and thanks to this pandemic, we asked Arjun how this pandemic got him, he honestly replied, ¡° You can be looking at your own situation and say ¡®arey yaar ye kya hoga mere saath¡¯ and the only thing is solace here is we all are together in this, my pandemic has not been different from anybody else¡¯s.

The same feeling of uncertainty, what¡¯s going to happen? same boredom, lack of productivity. The way I decided to focus it on was that the world is going through a mass depression not because of the pandemic only but also what¡¯s happening all over the world. It is like a really difficult time to be alive. I think it¡¯s really important in this situation where we have thrown into by force that we need to take care of our mental health on an individual level more than anything. And do whatever it takes for that is to be right because if you lose your mental stability then everything will fall apart.

For example for me, I ended up drinking lot of alcohol than I otherwise do, I ended not up not exercising for like six months whereas I lived quite a disciplined routine and eating whatever I want . I just focus on doing whatever I like without the fear of judgment, honesty here I was like that I am going to sit 24 hours on the sofa and not move. I was doing all that stuff.¡±

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However on the work front, he feels he got lucky in the lockdown, ¡°Also, I was very lucky that, no other actor must have had the opportunity to shoot and release two projects during this lockdown, I was lucky to have these two projects, one was Home Story a short film on Netflix and the other one was series, the Gone Game, both were conceptualized, shot and released in lockdown, so that¡¯s been a move.¡±

We are not some drug cartel, we are just artists who are trying to do their work and entertain

We asked the actor to comment on the ongoing drug existence debate in Bollywood

"On a very general level, I want to say that all the mudslinging and finger-pointing that is going on in Bollywood is absolutely uncalled for and unnecessary. We are not like some drug cartel, we are just artists who are trying to do their work and entertain and trying to survive and stay alive while we do it. As far as the media trial goes, that¡¯s a big part of the problem. I think the media should focus on more real issues rather than these gossip-based coverage.

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Bollywood is not at all where I encountered drugs. The first time when I understood what is drug is when I was 10-year-old walking on the road of marine and in Nizamuddin basti in New Delhi. If there is a clean that needs to happen then I feel the clean is much more systemic one than a Bollywood clean up¡±.

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The actor will be seen next in Netflix short film Home Stories and The Gone Game.