Armaan Jain, 23, is Raj Kapoor's fourth grandchild, who would be entering the movies. He is ambitious, easygoing and reserved and is both, nervous and excited, before his debut in Arif Ali's Lekar Hum Deewana Dil. While he looks up to Aamir Khan and Leonardo DiCaprio in the movies, he looks up to his father, Manoj Jain, in real life. Over an hour-long conversation with the Bombay Times, he talks about his spiritual connection with Raj Kapoor, his love for his nani Krishna Raj and why his mother Rima Jain should have been an actor. Excerpts:

Talk about your family background?
My mother, Rima Jain, is Raj Kapoor's daughter. My dada is basically from Bijnor in UP, where we have farms and own a big mango orchard. My dada had then moved to Lagos. My father studied at the London School of Economics in UK, after which he worked at Lagos before they all returned to India. My family was into garment exports and got into finance catering to the middle-class. My father Manoj Jain is an investment banker. My dad and Rajiv (Kapoor) mama were best friends and thus, my dad would often visit my nana's house, where he met my mom. Also, my dad's sister was my mom's best friend. My dad would often go there and have a drink with my nana (Raj Kapoor). It was my nana's last wish that my mother marry my dad and thus, four months post his death, they got married. Rajiv mama was my dad's closest friend and he did not have kids, so he brought us up as his kids. He has always been a godfather to me. I have a younger brother Aadar, who also wants to get into films.


When did you know that you wanted to be an actor?
After school, I went to Regents College in London for my under-graduation to take a business degree. While I always knew in my heart that I wanted to be in films, I didn't have the guts to tell my parents that, then. I topped my class in the first year, but felt that I was wasting time and money there. I actually wanted to come back and start working in films. In between my semesters, I got the opportunity to meet Karan Johar in Mumbai, who was then directing My Name Is Khan. I went to him and he took me as an assistant director under him. I told my parents that I wanted to drop out of Regents. I went around in circles in front of my parents telling them that, but, surprisingly, they were fine as long as I was going to give my 100% to what I was going to do. I assisted for three years in Dharma and worked on I Hate Luv Storys, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu and finally SOTY. I got passionate about direction and was struck by camera.While assisting on SOTY, Abhishek Varman and me became really good friends. So, when Arif Ali was looking out for a new person, he referred me to him. I was auditioned three times before I was finally selected. When I was young, I used to watch a lot of my nana's movies.

It would be either watching football or cricket or his movies. He died before I was born, so I always wanted to know who my grandfather was. I had a birthday party when I was two. I love jokers and my mom did a clown party for me. I must have watched Mera Naam Joker 50 times. Since I did not see my grandfather, I somehow believed as a kid that the joker in Mera Naam Joker was my grandfather. I always loved the joker and in school. I would always do things that were stupid and crazy and make people laugh. That was my high. I wanted to always entertain and be that centre of attraction and knew that the best platform for me was movies.


Who do you love the most in the world?
My parents and my brother. Till today, there is nothing in my life hidden from them. I have never dated anyone as till three years back, I was an overweight kid at 100 kilos. I wish girls looked at me, but they didn't. I have now dropped 30 kilos. My nani used to feed me ghee everyday. Food is my biggest weakness. Whenever nani organises a dinner, we are such a family that everyone is there happily talking and enjoying their food. Everyone loves food in our family. I am an open book and my mom would just probably like to control my temper a little bit, as I get angry at times. My dad is proud of what I am doing and he is the one person I look up to for everything. It's his personality, the way he is with people, friendly, human, speaking to each and everyone the same way, be it the watchman, us or someone working in the house.

You are close to your nani Krishna Raj. Talk about her.
All through my growing up years, I would spend one weekend with my dada-dadi and one with my nani in Chembur, where she lives with my mamas - Randhir and Rajiv. I am very emotionally attached to her. She is very elegant. Till today, she will take 45 minutes to put on her makeup after taking her shower. I am fascinated with the way she wears her white sari and takes 45 minutes to wear her makeup. She will joke with me and say, 'I have a lot of men coming to see me.' Once we went on a cruise ship for a holiday. And we bumped into a mannequin. She looked at him and said, 'This is the first man who has fallen on me.' She is very funny and has a great sense of humour. My nani is the reason I was fat. I can't say no to her. She complimented me after seeing the trailer, but she is more nervous than my mom about my film.