Actor Vijay Varma is undeniably one of the most skilled actors we have in the film world. There’s something intriguing about his acting skills and so The Pioneer’s Tejal Sinha connects with him for an exclusive chat to learn how he mastered his art as a whole for our special weekly column of Celeb Talk.
A Hyderabadi boy, who initially began his journey as a theatre artist today, has become one of the most adroit actors we have had in the industry. Conjecturing about who we talk about? Well, it’s none other than Vijay Varma, who has certainly become a celebrity crush of many with the way he pulls himself out.
Undeniably, his journey has been no less than an interesting and inspiring one. A journey that started with a dream, the Darlings actor feels fortunate to be able to walk the path that he dreamt of. “I also feel a sense of acceptance,” an ecstatic Vijay shares, “a sense of contentment and, at the same time, a deep hunger and fire, which I felt when I started. I feel I have travelled along; at the same time, I feel like I have just gotten started, so it’s there.”
Basically, throughout his journey, there have been significant turning points, and he feels that these have shaped the way we either make films, watch films, or, as a culture, appreciate cinema. But for him, noticeably, it’s the ’70s that played a huge part — a movement for India. Though he did hear a lot about the ’50s and ’60s, he wasn’t around. ’70s also, “I saw the after-effects of it. I saw it on my father’s face when I was a little boy — what it did to them. ’70s was significant because cinema was fearless, and from that fearlessness, we went into another era, but that fearlessness of cinema was a significant turning point for the nation and for cinema. The recent turning point, I would say, was maybe around the emergence of Dibakar, Anurag, and Imtiaz — all these collective filmmakers coming together and telling new kinds of stories, which wasn’t happening in the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s.”
Be it in the films or the streaming world, the Lust Stories 2 actor always focuses on doing his job the same way as he does. “I was working with filmmakers who used to make movies,” recalls the actor, adding, “suddenly we didn’t have an avenue to show our films. Luckily for me and luckily for all the audience, it was such a big respite when the lockdown happened and we had nowhere to look but screens, and we found great content there. I have been fascinated by long-format cinema. I like that there is a long bond that the audience and these stories and these characters can make that can last for years.”
Did you wonder too, just like we did, why don’t we see much of his heroic characters? Well, then in this exclusive chat, the Jaane Jaan actor reveals, “The ones that came to me weren’t much exciting. I found these devious men far more fascinating to understand and, therefore, to portray. But yeah, never say never; I might do something, which is — I am doing something, but I can’t disclose what it is. There will be more shades of me in the pipeline. I actually enjoy the totality of a person who has good, evil, niceness, and goodness.”
Along with some of the amazingly talented artists, Vijay Varma was also part of the Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films: ‘Select Films, Select Conversations’. An elated Vijay feels honoured to be connected with a brand with a name that has been synonymous with cinema, especially short-form filmmaking. As someone who feels the need to break the boundaries and redefine what global universal themes are, it was no less than an exciting experience for him to meet his fellow artists and discuss the prospect of movies and the joy of making them.
As we delve deep into his art, he also demures that initially, “I learned through sheer failures, non-starters, and no opportunities. The biggest lesson that I learned was to really keep the fire alive. I still look at the end of the tunnel; hopefully one day you will be able to. At the same time, believe in yourself. Patience was my only companion during that time. I felt like I practiced it so well that I was able to wait for years. I think not losing hope and being at it is the key.”
Now, when an actor plays a role or a character, it not only has an impact on the viewers and the audiences, but also on the actors themselves. For instance, look at his own performance in Darlings. His character, Hamza Shaikh, definitely had drawn so many haters on social media. And so there could also be a certain extent to which his negative characters, be it even in Pink or Dahaad, would have had an effect on him. Well, the Gully Boy star has a different take on it — “See, sometimes it needs to affect you for it to work, and I am okay with that. It may be an infectious scene where everybody bursts out laughing and I can carry that happiness, and if that means there is a tragic scene and I have to go through the morning or there is an evil scene and I have to tap into sides of me that I don’t like, but I have to. It needs to affect you. I feel like art needs to affect you. It needs to — if it affects the audience, yeah, it’s okay. I feel like if I divulge more details about this, then this becomes like, he is a method actor, and any of it. It just changes from film to film, character to character, moment to moment, and sometimes days to days. On the same day, I might be doing the same thing; on another day, I might do something completely different. I don’t subscribe to anything, but I just remember one thing: if it doesn’t move you, then how will it move anybody else? You need to let that affect you.”
Basically, all the twisted man characters that he has played so far, he says, have brought in a certain kind of education, which he carries forward with him.
For instance, “Gully Boy and Moeen Bhai was pretty fun, and I enjoyed that a lot. I think what I did in Kalkoot was very beautiful; the interesting observation and study of a young police officer were very fascinating.”
Having to be in the process of creation is of the utmost value, without which he feels like his life would not seem to have a purpose. By and large, Gully Boy was the first film that changed the trajectory. “I was in a blind spot before that, and I was seen after Gully Boy. Today, I think I am living my dream life, and I am walking on the path that I thought I would one day, and it’s happening,” blithely shared the adept actor.
Oh wait! How could we end the interview without a question for all the Hyderabadi fans of our Hyderabad-born actor? Wanna know what’s something that he misses the most about Hyderabad? Well, we are sure everyone would relate — “I miss the food; I crave the biryani, maybe once a week — yeah, it’s constantly there in my mind—and I also miss the carefree times that I spent in Hyderabad.”
Undeniably, his journey has been no less than an interesting and inspiring one. A journey that started with a dream, the Darlings actor feels fortunate to be able to walk the path that he dreamt of. “I also feel a sense of acceptance,” an ecstatic Vijay shares, “a sense of contentment and, at the same time, a deep hunger and fire, which I felt when I started. I feel I have travelled along; at the same time, I feel like I have just gotten started, so it’s there.”
Basically, throughout his journey, there have been significant turning points, and he feels that these have shaped the way we either make films, watch films, or, as a culture, appreciate cinema. But for him, noticeably, it’s the ’70s that played a huge part — a movement for India. Though he did hear a lot about the ’50s and ’60s, he wasn’t around. ’70s also, “I saw the after-effects of it. I saw it on my father’s face when I was a little boy — what it did to them. ’70s was significant because cinema was fearless, and from that fearlessness, we went into another era, but that fearlessness of cinema was a significant turning point for the nation and for cinema. The recent turning point, I would say, was maybe around the emergence of Dibakar, Anurag, and Imtiaz — all these collective filmmakers coming together and telling new kinds of stories, which wasn’t happening in the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s.”
Be it in the films or the streaming world, the Lust Stories 2 actor always focuses on doing his job the same way as he does. “I was working with filmmakers who used to make movies,” recalls the actor, adding, “suddenly we didn’t have an avenue to show our films. Luckily for me and luckily for all the audience, it was such a big respite when the lockdown happened and we had nowhere to look but screens, and we found great content there. I have been fascinated by long-format cinema. I like that there is a long bond that the audience and these stories and these characters can make that can last for years.”
Did you wonder too, just like we did, why don’t we see much of his heroic characters? Well, then in this exclusive chat, the Jaane Jaan actor reveals, “The ones that came to me weren’t much exciting. I found these devious men far more fascinating to understand and, therefore, to portray. But yeah, never say never; I might do something, which is — I am doing something, but I can’t disclose what it is. There will be more shades of me in the pipeline. I actually enjoy the totality of a person who has good, evil, niceness, and goodness.”
Along with some of the amazingly talented artists, Vijay Varma was also part of the Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films: ‘Select Films, Select Conversations’. An elated Vijay feels honoured to be connected with a brand with a name that has been synonymous with cinema, especially short-form filmmaking. As someone who feels the need to break the boundaries and redefine what global universal themes are, it was no less than an exciting experience for him to meet his fellow artists and discuss the prospect of movies and the joy of making them.
As we delve deep into his art, he also demures that initially, “I learned through sheer failures, non-starters, and no opportunities. The biggest lesson that I learned was to really keep the fire alive. I still look at the end of the tunnel; hopefully one day you will be able to. At the same time, believe in yourself. Patience was my only companion during that time. I felt like I practiced it so well that I was able to wait for years. I think not losing hope and being at it is the key.”
Now, when an actor plays a role or a character, it not only has an impact on the viewers and the audiences, but also on the actors themselves. For instance, look at his own performance in Darlings. His character, Hamza Shaikh, definitely had drawn so many haters on social media. And so there could also be a certain extent to which his negative characters, be it even in Pink or Dahaad, would have had an effect on him. Well, the Gully Boy star has a different take on it — “See, sometimes it needs to affect you for it to work, and I am okay with that. It may be an infectious scene where everybody bursts out laughing and I can carry that happiness, and if that means there is a tragic scene and I have to go through the morning or there is an evil scene and I have to tap into sides of me that I don’t like, but I have to. It needs to affect you. I feel like art needs to affect you. It needs to — if it affects the audience, yeah, it’s okay. I feel like if I divulge more details about this, then this becomes like, he is a method actor, and any of it. It just changes from film to film, character to character, moment to moment, and sometimes days to days. On the same day, I might be doing the same thing; on another day, I might do something completely different. I don’t subscribe to anything, but I just remember one thing: if it doesn’t move you, then how will it move anybody else? You need to let that affect you.”
Basically, all the twisted man characters that he has played so far, he says, have brought in a certain kind of education, which he carries forward with him.
For instance, “Gully Boy and Moeen Bhai was pretty fun, and I enjoyed that a lot. I think what I did in Kalkoot was very beautiful; the interesting observation and study of a young police officer were very fascinating.”
Having to be in the process of creation is of the utmost value, without which he feels like his life would not seem to have a purpose. By and large, Gully Boy was the first film that changed the trajectory. “I was in a blind spot before that, and I was seen after Gully Boy. Today, I think I am living my dream life, and I am walking on the path that I thought I would one day, and it’s happening,” blithely shared the adept actor.
Oh wait! How could we end the interview without a question for all the Hyderabadi fans of our Hyderabad-born actor? Wanna know what’s something that he misses the most about Hyderabad? Well, we are sure everyone would relate — “I miss the food; I crave the biryani, maybe once a week — yeah, it’s constantly there in my mind—and I also miss the carefree times that I spent in Hyderabad.”
