The last call: Arjun Rampal shot in the same cockpit as Tom Hanks in Sully

If there is one thing that Arjun Rampal has maintained throughout his two-decade career, it is a variation of the kind of roles he has badumed. He could have made films like Dil Ka Rishta and Dil Hai Tumhaara in the initial phase of his career, then he moved on to more serious characters like Joe Mascarenhas in Rock On and Prithviraj Pratap in Raajneeti . It pushes the limits again, now in digital space, with The Final Call a new web series premiered on ZEE 5.

The digital content space in India has really exploded these last years. years. Have you thought about entering this space before The Last Call is not offered to you?

This is an interesting platform in which you can venture. There is a lot of freedom and you work with less pressure. In a big budget movie, you're in a hurry to put an item song, the scripts are handled, the movie has to make some numbers at the box office.
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Is the risk lower on a web platform?
I do not think it's about risk. You can spend a lot of money for a show without always having eyes in your eyes. People are very impatient, if they do not like the first or the first two episodes, they will not come back to watch the whole season. It is very difficult to keep them hooked.

But you have a lot of freedom to work at a very purist level. That's why writing is so good and the resulting performance is also good. So everything is complete well. The narration is improved, you can take a character from good to bad in gray over a period of time, explore different nuances.

Most successful webcasts follow a certain pattern. Do you think edgy content works best on a web platform?

The good thing is that people are willing to experiment these days. From the kind of content produced five years ago to content that is now successful, with films such as AndhaDhun Badhaai Ho Stree or even Uri who are not backed by huge budgets or star power, but their box office collections are phenomenal. So you can really push the envelope in different directions.

Would you have started such a series five years ago?

This is a good question because it reaffirms my choice of The Final Call . Something like that was not done, and it really touched me. The content should be timeless, if it was created five years ago and can still be viewed five years later, it's great. That's what you want to do.

My questions were: will the story also be supported by production, because when you go on the web platform, the audience you reach also changes. ZEE5 is distributed in more than 173 countries, dubbed in different languages. The scope is very different.

Moreover, your competition is changing. You are in international competition with international stars, with a global level of quality and writing. And now, it is the golden age in this space. You get the best writers, the best shows, the best production, all for a subscription.

It was very important to maintain the quality of the show, and they did it. I shot in the same badpit as that of Tom Hanks for Sully it was a high and incredible experience. The value of its production is comparable to that of an international show. Director Vijay Lalwani was very clear about this. The writing has been kept as sharp as possible.

Would you like to work with such content during the initial phase of your career?

For an actor, it is good to be able to work with him. such content when you are younger, but I feel that I'm part of that space, because I was very conscious of doing a very different, character-oriented work, beyond just looking for roles which would create a star power. Although there is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes people shoot a movie around an actor. I would prefer to work on a scenario.

Is the role of Karan Sachdeva, a driver suffering from depression, close to you in real life?

The character does not look like me at all. Depression can happen to the best of people. Part of the character's game was to understand what is depression and how does it fit into our lives. Depression has increased rapidly over the past five years and suicide cases have increased.

Most of this fault is with social media. We think we are part of something, but there is no personal human interaction, and without realizing it, you isolate yourself a bit. These are the keywords I worked with.

The script says that the character is isolated. So you work on how you feel if you are isolated and cut off people, stop going out. Then your mind starts to work and you realize the power of the mind and the games that it can play with you. I think that's what depression would be like. You start hating yourself, the world, and everything around you

When you get on a plane thinking you are coming to your destination, you expect a pleasant experience – blind faith. What if your driver is not doing well? You can do a physical badessment of the person, but what do you do with his mental state? The series raises questions about mental illness and how to overcome it.

What are you doing to stay in good mental health?

How do you know that I am healthy in spirit? Or stable? (With a laugh) Many people think I'm crazy. That's why they've thrown me away.

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