One actor who has definitely caught everyone’s attention, more so in the last few months, has to be Vicky Kaushal. The actor’s nuanced performances in films like Sanju and Lust Stories, along with his terrific portrayal of DJ Sands in Manmarziyaan has been appreciated by the audience. He says, “I’m getting closer to the space I always wanted to create for myself.” On that note, we talk to Vicky about the rejections he faced and finally making the cut...
When you started off with Masaan (2015), did you expect this kind of recognition to come so soon?
No. But you’re always aiming for the best and working hard towards reaching some place in life, to have a better tomorrow. Having said that, I didn’t know back then that within three years, I would get to work with Rajkumar Hirani, Aanand L Rai, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and Meghna Gulzar all in the same year.
Do you think that with actors like you and Rajkummar Rao setting a precedence, newer talents will have to struggle less now?
Absolutely, and that’s solely due to the audience’s evolution. Around 15-20 years ago, people only liked watching what they liked. You show them the same thing 10 times in a row and they would be happy. But right now, you need to surprise the audience with every film you do. They don’t want anything which has a repeat value.
Thanks to that, writers, too, are getting a chance to explore unchartered territories. The demand for unconventional faces and characters are also increasing. That helps actors like me and others who are coming to the forefront. Today, people look at us and think we can play protagonists in a commercial film, too.
Manoj Bajpayee had mentioned in one of his interviews that he was told he didn’t have the looks to be an actor. Did you face such kind of a discrimination, too?
Luckily, nobody has been this upfront with me. But you see that in their eyes, the way they scan you from top to bottom. Once, I had gone for the audition of an ad. It was a quintessential commercial for a deo brand where the boy gets barechested and women are falling over him. I have always been a lean fellow with six-pack abs but quite unlike the typical male models. I knocked the door and asked the man who opened it if I was fit for the audition. He just stared at me and said, ‘It’s a deo ad.’ He didn’t say yes or no. Aur main bhi ziddi tha, so I kept asking. Finally, he had to say no (laughs). Imagine this year, I got to be the face of a deo brand and I’m barechested in the ad. The only difference was that men were falling on me in it not out of love, but because they were fighting for the product. I took up that TVC as it completed that circle for me.
