The All-Rounder

Unlike other actors, Ravi has been very choosy in picking up his roles. After Amaanat there were umpteen offers for a servant’s role and post-Maachis several for the hero’s friend. But he turned them down for fear of over-exposure and he didn’t want to act just for moolah. Surprisingly, he even refused big banner films like Dil To Pagal Hai and Major Saab. "I don’t want to do the same kind of roles and I’ve never been after money. I’ve a house of my own, a car, a bike and also a cycle," he says, "And God forbid, if I’m broke some day I won’t be ashamed to go on my cycle."

Ravi has had no formal training in acting but has been active in theatre since he was a child. He remembers how he did 11 characters in Ram Leela while in school and was exhilarated when he won a shield and a cash prize of Rs 100. Being a dancer, he formed his own troupe called Planets; he performed dance shows and trained over 1,000 students in jazz ballet.

But having an ardent desire to become an actor, one fine day he landed up in the big bad world of Bollywood. It was 1993, when Bombay was rocked by the bomb blasts and riots. He joined Prithvi Theatre and did workshops with Satyadev Dubey, then with Naseeruddin Shah and Govind Namdeo. Then came his first break, Parvarish on Zee in 1994, after which came a chunk of serials like Reporter, Parivartan, Ghutan, Aahat till Maachis happened after a struggle of three years at Gulzar’s office. When the film released people sat up, took notice and started calling him for work. Maachis was followed by Amol Palekar’s Daayra after which came the role in Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar…. And along with it came Amaanat with Sanjeev Bhattacharya. He hasn’t looked back since. He considers himself one of the luckiest few to have worked with some of the best directors like Gulzar, Ramesh Sippy, Govind Nihalani, Amol Palekar, Pankak Parashar. In the pipeline are some more exciting filmslike Gulzar’s Jora Aur Jori and Saeed Mirza’s Waiter.

Well, it might sound vain but Ravi feels that he is the only actor with a combination of a good physique, great dancing technique, formidable acting skills and the ability to perform mind-blowing stunts. "I can act better than Shah Rukh, dance better than Jaaved Jafferi, fight better than Akshay or Sunil Shetty. It’s not over-confidence but I can actually prove it if given a chance. Like I did all my stunts in Maachis on my own," he boasts.

His future plans are to write, produce, direct and choreograph a film. "I want to do every possible thing related to film-making," he says. And guess what his other goals in life are? Well, one day he wants to land on the moon. He also intends to write a book. And don’t be shocked when you read this: another aim in his life is to read a novel completely, that is from start to finish because he has never been able to complete one before!