the main protagonist of the romantic thriller alongside Jacqueline Fernandez and Ranbir Kapoor. This was a critical and commercial failure. Critic Sarita A. Tanwar described it as a "boring, exhausting and pretentious" film. In 2016, Rampal starred in the sequel to Rock On!!, Rock On!! 2 alongside Farhan Akhtar, Shraddha Kapoor, Purab Kohli, in which he reprised the role of Joe Mascarenhas. It was a flop at box-office owing primarily to demonetisation but the camaraderie between the actors was appreciated in the film. His next release was Kahaani 2, in which he portrayed the role of a sub-inspector on the hunt of missing protagonist (portrayed by Vidya Balan). The film was an average grosser but his performance was appreciated. His next venture was a biopic on gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli called Daddy in which he portrayed Arun Gawli and also produced the film. He reduced 10 kg weight and missed workout for nearly two years to portray the character. His role was critically praised and Rajeev Masand of News18 wrote "It's a shrewd performance, relying almost entirely on body language over histrionics, and the actor doesn't disappoint." In 2021, he appeared in Aparna Sen's Hindi film The Rapist in main lead alongside Konkona Sen Sharma. The film has been nominated for Kim Jiseok award at 26th Busan International Film Festival. Rampal was to make his Telugu film debut with Hari Hara Veera Mallu in the role of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, but has dropped out due tomother commitments. In 2022, he starred in Dhaakad. Non-film work Television In 2008, Rampal made his television debut as one of the three judges of the fourth season of the dance reality television show Nach Baliye on STAR Plus. The other two judges were choreographer Farah Khan and film actress Karisma Kapoor. In 2010, Rampal hosted the 5th Apsara Awards with Preity Zinta. In November 2011, Rampal started hosting a new television show called Love 2 Hate U airing on STAR World India. The theme of the show was that Rampal would try and change the perception of people who hate Bollywood actors by bringing them face to face with them. The first episode aired on 20 November and the last episode aired on 15 January. In 2019, Rampal made his debut in a digital web series with The Final Call in which he played Captain Karan Sachdev and won the Best Actor in a