Actor Arvind Swamy, who became popular with films like "Bombay", "Roja" in 1990s, today said he had been a reluctant actor who grew uncomfortable with the attention he started getting due to his stardom.
Arvind was introduced as an actor by filmmaker Mani Ratnam in 1991 with the film "Thalapathi". The actor rose to prominence with the success of "Roja (1992), and "Bombay" in 1995.
The actor, whose last Hindi film was "Raja Ko Rani Se Pyaar Ho Gaya" in 2000, took a sabbatical and spent a decade in trying his hand in business.
"I never wanted to be an actor. I was a reluctant actor but the process of making those films was what I really enjoyed. The attention that came with success was something which made me very uncomfortable. I was not prepared for it, I was not ready. I was in my early twenties," Arvind told reporters.
The actor said though he enjoyed the success, he was unprepared with the kind of attention stardom brought to him.
"I enjoyed the success I didn't enjoy the attention. It's like 'I want you to see my films but leave me alone'. If you think all your life that you want to be a star, want to perform, then that is something you would enjoy. But I was very unprepared for what came my way," he said.
Arvind said it was "very stifling" for him.
"If I came out and saw 100 people standing, it would make some people happy and proud or make some people run back to their house. I belong to the second category," he added.
Arvind returned to full-fledged acting with Mani Ratnam's film "Kadal" in 2013 and will be next seen in the Hindi film "Dear Dad".
The actor insists he respected stardom but didn't know how to deal with it and hence needed some time off.
"It is not like I didn't respect it, it was just that
I didn't know how to deal with it. I thought it was getting only bigger as more movies started coming. I felt that I had that window of time to do things that I wanted to do and feel comfortable again," he said.
Arvind's upcoming film is a coming of age story, involving 14-year-old Shivam and his 45-year-old father Nitin Swaminathan.
"The relationship deals with these two primary characters but it's like a journey where this man knows the direction in which he wants to go but he doesn't know the final destination," the actor said.
Directed by Tanuj Bhramar, "Dear Dad" is scheduled to release on May 6.
Arvind said he was not nervous about the response he would get from Hindi audience for his performance.
"I am not really nervous. In the sense that, it is the same nervousness I have for my film in any other languages. Same is there for this as well. It's a good nervousness. I hope they see what we saw in the script," he added.
