The key is to keep striving

Even 14 years after having left completed his graduation from Delhi, memories of his time spent in Hindu College came flooding back the instant he is asked for some snippets. “I believe Delhi is a great place to study in. I had the best time of my life here.”
Coming to why he was in town recently, the star cast his new film Vaada, which released nationwide this Friday, auctioned off their costumes from the film to raise money for the tsunami victims.
“I believe that whatever one does is a very private feeling. In a time when people have lost their houses, it is so rude to make a show of the help that you offer,” said the actor. “I have made my contribution as well and I will continue to help in whatever way possible but I do not want to talk about how much I am giving and why.”
“I am being asked constantly why I did not go to the people who are suffering there. I do not understand what difference that will make. Instead of an inexperienced lot standing there posing for photographs, I would rather aid the more experienced lot monetarily, to enable a faster recovery for the people.”
In Vaada, Rampal plays again the role of a blind person, his earlier stint being Aankhen with Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Sushmita Sen. “My role in Aankhen was very different as there I was a blind guy who was trapped into a robbery. In Vaada, I play a blind guy who is not as simple and innocent as he seems to be.”
“I worked pretty hard for playing this character. For one, I shed weight as I did not want to look like a tough guy. There were a lot of blind students in my college and the freshers had to read out books to them every afternoon as books were not always available in Braille. I learnt a lot from them then, I had no idea it would come back to me in such a big way again in life.”
Not all his memories from college are pleasant ones. “I used to be one o the better athletes in college, but we never found any backup. I wish all the young athletes in Delhi all the best. They must never give up hope and keep striving.”

Published in Hindustan Times Next on January 7, 2005