Mohit Ahlawat was Ram Gopal Varma’s blue-eyed boy years ago when he made his debut in ‘James’ alongside Nisha Kothari, who has been missing from the big screen for some time now. This was the time when all of Ram Gopal Varma’s films were flopping one by one and yet he never stopped making movies. Ramu has taken a break from Bollywood for quite some time now. He has chosen to make Hyderabad his home where he’s also directing Telugu films. Mohit too is making his comeback in ‘Ek Paheli Leela’ alongside Sunny Leone. Read on what he has to say to Times of India on the interesting things that happened to him.
Mohit Ahlawat on Ram Gopal Varma
I had always been impressed with Ram Gopal Varma’s work and wanted to start with him. I went to meet Ramu and showed him my pictures and he said, ‘We will do something.’ And he launched me in James. He is a very intelligent man and is my mentor. He is egoistic, but is a very nice-hearted person. He thinks for others. But sometimes, his ego is so big that he doesn’t understand anything. His brain only thinks cinema and work all the time. I used to respect him a lot and I did two films with him. But after that, he wanted me to do Amitji’s role in Sholay in his version of the film and I was not happy with the film. He did not take that well and so I left him.
Mohit Ahlawat on working with Sunny Leone
She is a nice person, very hard-working and very professional. I didn’t know that she is a porn star before. Seriously. I just assumed that she was a model from Playboy or something like that.
Mohit Ahlawat on his Father
My father was the only one who took care of me and I realised his value during the time I was being treated. He stopped working and only worked on getting me cured. He just wants me to concentrate on work now, not get into bad company and not allow people to use me. He wants me to be safe and have a good living.
Mohit Ahlawat on getting inspired by Salman Khan
I still remember I went to Somi Ali’s birthday party at Piano Bar with Kishen. There was this song ‘Oh Oh Jaane Jana..’ that was playing and I saw Salman Khan. I was 120 kilos that time, but I had decided that I wanted to be like him.
Mohit Ahlawat on doing drugs
I had got into drugs due to a bad marriage and due to my professionally not doing well. I spent a few months even in New York in a rehab. Consuming drugs is a disease. But today, I eat healthy, have just six packs and am totally out of it.
Mohit Ahlawat on going to rehab
In rehab, they gave me electric shocks, as a result my memory for those two years is totally erased. They study your brain and give you some chemicals to remove that part. It was life changing. I saw the craziest people of the world. And I was one of them. When I left the rehab, the first thing is that you feel like going back to drugs. It’s a disease. While you are in the rehab, you don’t have access to it. They give you so many electric shocks and medicines, you become a vegetable. I tried it only once after coming out, but felt very unhappy and guilty. I saw my father’s face and could not do it after that.
Mohit Ahlawat on advising those, who take drugs
I want to tell every person who consumes drugs that insan sab kuch kar sakta hai. If you want to leave it, you can.
Mohit Ahlawat on his marriage
I had a love marriage just before the release of James. My wife Sai Purandare Johar is from Australia. She had come for modeling to Mumbai, which is where we met. We are now separated past five years after the shooting of Shagird. We have an eight-year-old daughter, who lives with her. They both live in Sydney and I am in touch with both of them and every three months, we go for a holiday for a few days. Sai is the mother of my daughter and I still say that she is a very nice person. I will say that I was the bad person between us. We separated as we did not get along. But she was my best friend and I miss her a lot and have missed her at every step of my life. I will never divorce her. She still has those old things in mind and she has not seen me transformed today. She is a very good mother. I am still waiting for her to come back. And I know that she will.
Mohit Ahlawat on how he changed today
I was a very giving person earlier, but now I have become a little more matlabi. I am very emotional, but have learnt to become tough now. I realised that except for my family and Kishen and Bhushan, there was no one standing next to me when I was down and out. I was alone suffering, both mentally and professionally. I understood that you have to be successful and you have to do everything on your own. If you are successful, everything is good and if you are not, then nothing is good.