“I had to look innocent”- Ruslaan Mumtaz
After MP3 - Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar, Ruslaan Mumtaz is once again seen on the big screen in Satish Kaushik directed Teree Sang. In the film which opened last Friday, this 24 year old young man plays the role of a 17 year old boyfriend of a 15 year old girl (Sheena Shahabadi) who gets pregnant from him. The film comes with a message around teen pregnancy and has one of its major promotional pegs being sex education. In this exclusive interview with us, Ruslaan Mumtaz talks about the entire makeover that he had to go through for Teree Sang and how it wasn't an easy task for him to bag the lead role in the film.
Ruslaan,
in
real
life
you
come
with
quite
an
impressive
physique.
So
what
did
you
do
to
look
so
different
in
Teree
Sang?
I
had
to
actually
go
through
a
complete
makeover
as
far
as
my
looks,
physique
and
wardrobe
were
concerned.
For
Teree
Sang,
I
had
to
lose
a
lot
of
weight.
Since
Sheena
(Shahabadi)
is
practically
a
kid,
I
had
to
look
innocent
too.
More
so
because
I
was
playing
the
role
of
a
17
year
old
boy
who
could
impregnate
a
girl
by
mistake.
It
was
imperative
that
audiences
are
led
to
believe
that
this
guy
is
someone
who
can
commit
a
mistake.
So
he
had
to
be
simple
and
quite
naive,
something
that
can
be
projected
only
if
the
look
and
presentation
is
correct.
He
couldn't
have
been
shown
as
a
cool
dude
because
then
his
character
wouldn't
have
been
believable
at
all.
Please
carry
on...
This
boy
is
so
sweet
and
simple
that
the
girl
keeps
bullying
him
but
he
still
never
minds.
She
calls
him
a
duffer
but
he
only
smiles.
He
is
someone
who
is
just
not
pretentious
at
all.
He
comes
from
a
poor
family
and
when
he
visits
Sheena's
house
for
the
first
time,
his
eyes
pop
out
by
witnessing
just
the
sheer
magnitude
of
the
mansion
where
she
lives.
He
is
very
vocal
about
his
emotions
as
well
but
when
it
comes
to
the
moment
of
decision
making
(when
he
accidentally
gets
the
girl
pregnant),
he
doesn't
shy
away
from
his
responsibilities.
He
could
have
said
that
it's
the
girl
who
actually
pushed
him
into
the
act
but
he
never
does
that.
He
supports
her
whole
heartedly.
There
have
been
interesting
stories
floating
around
how
you
were
selected
for
the
role.
I
have
heard
that
Satish
Kaushik
was
not
really
keen
to
cast
you
even
though
you
were
quite
persistent.
What
you
have
heard
is
half
correct
and
half
incorrect
(laughs).
It
isn't
as
if
Satish
Kaushik
wasn't
keen
to
cast
me.
He
actually
wanted
me
for
the
role
since
he
was
quite
impressed
with
my
screen
test.
However,
he
wanted
a
new
boy
for
the
role
and
I
had
already
signed
Robby
Grewal's
MP3
-
Mera
Pehla
Pehla
Pyaar.
He
asked
me
if
I
could
leave
MP3
but
that
wasn't
possible
for
me.
6
months
passed
by
and
he
still
hadn't
found
his
boy
(laughs).
So
I
approached
him
again
and
told
him
that
he
would
never
find
a
better
boy
than
me
to
play
this
role.
He
again
said
no
to
me
but
surprisingly
whenever
there
were
any
auditions
for
different
girls
who
were
being
looked
for
the
role,
he
would
call
me.
Finally,
I
got
to
know
that
someone
else
was
taken
for
the
hero's
role.
That
must
have
been
heartbreaking...
You
bet!
Here
I
was
coming
week
after
week
hoping
that
he
would
finally
be
convinced
and
there
he
went
on
to
take
some
other
boy.
Thankfully
there
were
so
many
other
people
who
had
seen
the
auditions.
People
from
his
own
family
and
Bharat
Shah
(who
is
producing
the
movie)
-
everyone
was
sure
that
I
was
the
guy
for
the
role.
As
was
destined,
they
didn't
take
either
the
boy
or
the
girl
whom
they
had
selected
first.
Ultimately
Sheena
and
I
were
signed
on.
What
happened
to
that
boy
who
was
finalized
before
you?
That
guy
is
now
an
aspiring
director
actually.
He
was
a
very
sweet
guy
and
I
completely
believe
that
he
was
also
very
apt
for
the
role.
In
fact
he
was
just
himself
when
he
walked
in
for
the
audition
and
that
was
the
very
reason
why
he
was
selected
in
the
first
place.
I
observed
him
quite
carefully
since
for
me,
he
was
the
reference
point
for
the
boy
I
had
to
play
on
screen.
I
had
to
just
wear
the
kind
of
loose
clothes
that
he
was
wearing,
get
an
appearance
like
him
and
adapt
his
mannerisms.
You
must
be
pining
a
lot
of
hopes
on
Teree
Sang?
See,
box
office
is
important
but
then
it
is
at
the
end
of
the
day
quite
secondary.
As
long
as
I
can
have
DVDs
of
10
of
my
films
ready
and
I
can
show
them
to
people
who
matter,
it
is
great.
That
should
be
my
goal
as
of
now.
I
am
a
newcomer
and
not
really
in
a
position
to
decide
where
I
would
be
in
a
few
years
from
now.
Ultimately
Teree
Sang
is
a
Satish
Kaushik
film
and
that
by
itself
should
be
good
enough
to
pull
in
audiences.