“Most women I know apply lot of men’s fragrances” – Arjun Rampal

By Devansh Patel -

January 12, 2012 - 2:59 PM IST

Intoxicating, emotional, expressive, pulsating, dynamic, surprising, authentic, exciting, invigorating, inspiring, multifaceted, electrifying, stimulating and fascinating are some of the words that best describes Drom Fragrances but come to think of it, Arjun Rampal too. Arjun has become that essential oil in the Indian Film Fraternity who is worth a fortune. Pay attention! He's been the talk of the town with his title role of Ra.One and his crazy cropped up look with a physique that every girl wants to get their hands on and every boy wants to own one, he's won Indian highest honour in the form of a National Award for his best onscreen role ever of Joe Mascarenhas in Rock On and is now launching his own perfume called 'Alive' at Aurus tonight in Juhu. All that remains of Arjun Rampal is a wax replica at Tussauds, isn't it? With fan following of females doubling up with every professional achievement, well, I won't be surprised if a lady comes up to me and says, "Arjun smells fantastic". UK's Harrow Observer columnist and Bollywood Hungama's London correspondent brings you a whiff of something uniquely fresh mixed with dark lily, wild musk, amber and orange bloom - Arjun Rampal. I mean, Alive. It's the same thing. Innit?

She's back to grace the front cover of a magazine and let me tell you, Mehr looks mesmerising. What's your take?
Mehr's shoot for Vogue magazine is unbelievable. When I saw it myself, I was stunned. She's back to grace the front covers. It's breathtaking how the photographer Prabhudo Das Gupta and Mehr created magic in front of the lens. I was in shock.

“Most women I know apply lot of men’s fragrances” – Arjun Rampal

People are already calling you the 'eagle' after seeing your pic from Dabboo's 2012 calendar. How was the experience?
Dabboo's calendar launch was fun. I went there only to see that his launch keeps getting bigger and better. Dabboo wanted to shoot me in my cropped hair and so he insisted that I do it before my hair grows back. Everyone's been talking about that picture. It was something different from what I've done before for him. It was topless to begin with (laughs).

So how exactly did your 'perfume story' start?
Drom Fragrances, a German company established since 1911 and one of the ten leading manufacturers of perfumes in the world took the responsibility and said that they wanted to make my fragrance. Drom has catered to a lot of celebrities worldwide. There was a lot of back and forth as they also went into a lot of research as to what were my personal best fragrances. We worked through different stages where they made seven different fragrances with the same elements and then mixed them up with different notes. Sometimes they made it muskier, fruity, woody, etc. but finally after a lot of time consuming and a strenuous smelling scents and coffee beans, I went with two fragrances. One is a masculine one for men and the other is a fruitier and citrusy that is unisex. Both are called 'Alive' and the bottles are different.

What's your favourite brand of cologne we are bound to find in your closet and what ingredients have you gone for in the selection of your own perfume 'Alive'?
My favourite brand of cologne is Jo Malone. You will always find that bottle in my closet. Jo Malone uses ingredients in their fragrances that no one uses. That's exactly what I wanted to stick to. It's very classic and earthy. For Alive, I've got dark lily, wild musk, amber and such notes in the masculine fragrances. There's a lot of orange bloom, lily and amber in a unisex one.

Will Alive be available worldwide too?
Yes, we have got our distribution tied up everywhere now through the company called Bacarrose, the largest distribution chain in perfumes who've distributed brands such as Prada, Cartier, etc. Within two to three weeks of the launch, Alive will be hitting worldwide and will be available in all leading stores.

With a lot of female fan following that you've got, what do you think - Out of the two choices in 'Alive', which one will be picked up more and why?
I don't know which kind of perfume will go more - pour home or the unisex one but I know that Alive will be kicking the sales once it launches. I think both are great fragrances and I just hope people like it. I've spent a lot of time personalising them and it's not just that the company came and made a perfume on Arjun Rampal. I think it's nice to have a masculine fragrance in your collection for men but if you say that my fan following is huge amongst women, let me tell you that most women I know apply a lot of men's fragrances (laughs).

With so many celebrities worldwide and a few Bollywood celebs too, perfumes haven't been the talk of the town post its launch. Do you think 'Alive' will go down as a classic?
People only talk about stuff that gets embedded in them. I disagree that people don't talk about eau de toilettes and perfumes. There's Aqua Di Gio from Armani, Allure from Chanel, Gucci, Issey Miyake, Cool Water from Davidoff, Opium from YSL, etc that aren't forgotten. These are classics and have gone down generations. People connect with it. I hope Alive too goes down generations. There's Fahrenheit from Christian Dior too. I hope Alive competes with international brands too.

With every international brand of fragrances competing with each other, what sort of pricing have you kept for 'Alive'?
I've made sure that the pricing of Alive is very competitive. We've taken into consideration all the aspects, especially the youth, the college students who can afford the fragrance. I want everybody to go and buy the 100ml bottle for Indian Rupees 1800 inclusive of all taxes. Everyone can smell me now (laughs).

First, the National Award, and then your own perfume. Will Madame Tussauds follow next?
I don't know if I'll be waxed at Madame Tussauds or not (laughs). That's too far from being a reality right now. As of now I only want to concentrate on my acting. I'm going to put my time and energy in my films and it's good that the cologne is launching in January so the rest of the year I can get busy with movies.

With so much happening in your professional life, when do we see the revival of Chasing Ganesha?
I have a lot of movies coming up and the ones that I've signed for 2012 but definitely you'll see a movie coming out of my Production House 'Chasing Ganesha' soon.

Have you made sure you've kept some spare bottles of Alive for the three M's in your life?
(Laughs) Alive is Mehr's, Myra's and Mahikaa's fragrance too. But if the stocks go off the shelf really soon, then I'll have to keep spare ones for my precious three M's in my life (laughs).

Tags : Arjun Rampal