This isn’t the first time Arif has won rave appreciation for one of his roles. In his first serial ever, Arif who played a a campus hero in Chunauti continued to command a huge following off the sets too. He graduated to playing a professor in Sanjeev Bhattacharya’s Campus and continues to be equally popular. And now with Darmiyaan he’s making headlines again.

Shah Rukh Khan was Kalpana’s first choice for the “very interesting and challenging” role. But when the Khan pleading date problems begged off, Kalpana turned to Saif Ali Khan. But this Khan told her very frankly that he wouldn’t dare do such a role, never mind that his wife Amrita who after Dimple dropped out was signed up for Tiku’s mother’s role, woukd be around to give moral support. Next in line for the by-now-controversial role was a Broadway actor, Govind Menon. But when he started rehersals Kalpana quickly realised that she’d made a mistake by opting for Menon. And finally, she thought of Arif who was already playing a 4-5 scenes role in the film. “Suddenly one day, sometime last August, I got a call from Kalpana’s office. She wanted me to screen-test for the role because she wasn’t too happy with Govind. They got me the proper get-up for the screen test and I “looked” the character. ebecause you know I looks all the most important thing for this role,” he beams.

Arif had earlier worked in Kalpana’s English serial Awakening to be made for STAR TV. Though he played a fiery revolutionary in this pre-Independence drama, since he was also a poet he had some tender moments and he handled them very well. That was perhaps why Kalpana thought of screen-testing him for Arif’s role. He was finalised on August 6 and three days later Kalpana started shooting. “Luckily my work didn’t begin till August 27 so I had enough time to prepare for the role,” Arif says with a relieved sigh.

He confesses he was very nervous because this was no ordinary role. “Playing a man and having to portray the softness and vulnerability of a woman is not easy. I was terrified the first time I wore the clothes of a woman but slowly I started getting used to it. Initially, when my mother got to know that I was playing an eunuch she was very upset which wasn’t very surprising but after a while I managed to convince her it wasn’t all that bad,” he smiles. Though Arif did a lot of homework he never had to go to the eunuch’s colony. Kalpana’s script was so detailed that there was just no need. Kalpana also persuaded some real eunuchs to put in a special appearance in the film and their presence also helped Arif immensely.

Arif admits he’s very lucky to be making his debut in such an unusual film. But at the same time he agrees it’s a a risk playing such different characters. “I think some actors refused the film because it would mean veering away from their image. I don’t blame them because earlier when certain actors took the gamble the audience refused to accept this change of image. I know this film will either make or mar me. But I took the risk because after the resounding success of Bandit Queen I was convinced people wanted to see something different,” he points out.

Only months earlier Tamanna won a national Award for Pooja Bhatt and got Paresh Rawal who played Tiku rave reviews. But while the film was widely acclaimed by the critics commercially it was a disaster. Doesn’t this prove that the masses are still not ready for a film which breaks with the formula completely? “Except for the eunuch our film is very different. The story, the approach and even the characterisation of the eunuch is completely different from Tamanna’s. Our film is more colourful, more commercial but with a depth few masala movies can boast of. I found Tamanna to be a very serious film. It’s just a coincidence that Pooja Bhatt’s Tamanna, Amol Palekar’s Dayra and Kalpana’s Darmiyaan were all released this year. But despite Tamanna and Dayraa beating us to the theatres I am sure people will like Darmiyaan and enjoy my performance,” Arif says crossing his fingers for luck.