Taboo Talk - With Arfi Lamba

From an engineer to becoming a part of the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, actor Arfi Lamba’s journey has been no less filmy. In a freewheeling chat, he discusses his phobias, nepotism and more

- Vinay Agrawal

Born in a village close to Punjab, Arfi didn’t think twice before giving up his profession as an engineer and trading it to become an actor. “I did not want to spend all my life designing pumps and refineries. In no way am I trying to undermine that job. Engineers are the backbone of this country. But, I was different in temperament. I wanted to entertain people. I wanted to be a part of the medium which makes people laugh and cry,” he justifies.

Besides doing plum Bollywood projects, Arfi started doing short films: Shunyata, A Perfect Murder, An Open Road with A Dead End and Shades of Grey (which went to the New York International Film Festival in 2008). His innate passion for films was reflected when he opened a production house, the Bombay Berlin Film Production, with Katharina Suckale.

Unlike many young actors, who narrate stories of struggle, Arfi is different. He doesn’t want his ‘journey in films’ to be named as ‘struggle’. He says, “Someone said, ‘Make what you love as your profession and you won’t have to work for a single day in your life.’ I have not looked at a single day as struggle. I am just devoted to cinema as an actor and a producer.”

Suckale and Arfi went onto co-produce a Marathi film Maunraag that went to a few prestigious festivals. They also produced Loev in 2015, which was premiered at the prestigious Tallinn International Film Festival and competed at 50+ international film festivals, including South By Southwest, BFI, Frameline and the Jeonju International Film Festival. They also co-produced The Road to Madalay that opened and competed in the Venice International Film Festival and won the critics award there.