Acting helps in attaining moksha:Rana

The talented actor shot to fame with the television serial Swabhimaan and there has been no looking back since.

Known for doing meaningful and performance oriented roles, actor Ashutosh Rana has carved a niché for himself in the Hindi film industry with some stellar performances leaving an indelible mark in the audiences' mind.

The talented actor shot to fame with the television serial Swabhimaan and there has been no looking back since. Ashutosh has got the gift of the gab and his passion for Hindi language is immense.

No wonder then, he makes news for his shudh bhasha and uska uccharan when conversing. The love for Hindi reflects in Ashutosh’s thoughts also as he says, Hindi hamare apno ki bhasha hai. It is our culture. We dream in Hindi, our nation is Hindi, so why should we adopt any foreign language? Why do we forget that language is the messenger of our expressions? Our dreams, family and characters are disintegrating today because there is a lot of mix and match in our conversation today.

We caught up with the eloquent actor while was in the city, shooting for his upcoming film Monica – a political thriller.

Ashutosh has given some powerful performances at the very beginning of his career in films like Sangharsh and Dushman, which eventually established him amongst the most talented actors in the industry.

Working for himself gives Ashutosh a lot of satisfaction and he feels that only an actor has the opportunity to play different real life characters. “This profession is helpful in attaining moksha.” Rana believes that luck plays a major role in obtaining success.

So what is his definition of luck? “When preparation meets opportunity, it's called luck,” he answers.

Having made a mark in the field of acting, Ashutosh concedes that he doesn't know anything about acting. “Nobody can measure the level of acting as its an extremely vast field. The only thing I know about acting is that it looks beautiful on screen if it has truth and essence in it,” says the actor.

Ask him about his affinity with negative roles and pat comes the reply, “I have done a variety of roles, but the characters that I played in Sangharsh and Dushman got noticed so much that everybody thought I am only good at doing negative roles,” and lest you begin to think that’s his forte, he quickly adds, “One can still be a hero while playing villain. It’s the character you are portraying that makes all the difference.”

Ashutosh attributes his success to the Bhatt camp. “Whatever I am today is because of Maheshji and Pooja Bhatt,” he says humbly.

So how much has Hindi cinema changed since the time he started his career? “There is a nice blend of commerce and art in today’s cinema. Moreover, there is a lot of thought and reality in our films. Art movies nowadays are seen as equally good alternative for routine cinema. Technically speaking, our films are now getting a lot more superior and are having worldwide exposure as well,” avers Ashutosh.

On a different note we checked out who in the industry does Ashutosh Rana admire? “I really have a high regard for Dilip Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hassan. Even Kishore Kumar as an actor was superb,” says Ashutosh. As for those in the current crop, he confesses to enjoying the performances of Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Tabu, Kajol and Rani Mukerji.

Ashutosh's future projects include films such as Summer of 2007, Hamilton Palace and Tanuja Chandra’s Reth (Sand). Well, we wish him all the luck!