Bend it like Milind
IN TRANSIT
Being a conventional actor is not his cup of tea, Milind Soman tells Metrolife on his visit to the City
At 44, his cute boyish charm and chiselled good looks haven’t diminished one bit.
Neither has his tongue-in-cheek, easy-going humour that always held the audience captive.
But Milind’s used to that and looks oddly at home with all the adulation and attention, and even jokes about it. He dons many hats simultaneously, that of an actor, producer, businessman, philanthropist. And at an event, in the City, he wore a chef’s hat.
Which he confesses, he’s not so comfortable with. “I hate cooking, and I leave it to professionals and experts, I love food though, especially my mom’s dal-chawal.”
Talking about promoting the run in the City he says, “I have been a sportsperson all my life, I was a four-time national swimming champion, so running has always been a part of my lifestyle. After a certain level of fitness, running is energising, and this concept is virtually unknown, and I would like to promote that.”
Speaking about fitness, he says he’s excited about his new venture of a gym in Delhi, “it’s called Breathe,” he says. Ironically, Milind himself never works out in the gym, “I keep fit by running and doing push-ups. It’s different for me, I understand certain people need an environment to have a good workout.”
Moving away from fitness, Milind reveals his latest releases, “I have two Tamil films, called Paiyya and Vithagan, apart from two Hindi films called Nakshatra and Shadow.”
Milind feels that being a conventional actor is not cup of tea.
“I like doing a lot of different things, I am already famous, how much more can I get? Even with acting, I am very choosy, I like doing thrillers and sci-fiction movies. I have also done international films in Swedish and Japanese.” Speaking about films, he says the audience have become a lot more mature now, and the film-maker has to align to that.
The global audience is waking up to ‘Indian cinema’, that encapsules all other Indian language films. So Bollywood is no longer the sole ambassador of Indian films.”
Apart from films, Milind also runs his event management company, which organises glamour events like beauty paegents etc. “I like doing a lot of different things at the same time, you would never catch me being cast in the same mould.”
Unfortunately, the same trend seems to be reflecting in his personal front as well, with his recent divorce with French actress Mylene Jampanoi's, where long distance seemed to have taken a toll on their relationship.
So is the actor single and available? “I am seeing Sahana Goswami, the actress from Rock on now, but it’s still in early stages,” he says non-chalentely.
And does he plan to get married? “No, for one, I have been married, and don't want to go though the same route just yet, and secondly she’s too young.”
So if you know any rules of how to be a celebrity, including the dreaded
‘attitude’, rest assured, Milind’s bent it with elan.
