Versatility that makes him seem like the ideal fit for each role he takes up, looks that fit the bill for an Indian version of Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy, and an endearingly sincere approach to life and work — Vicky Kaushal is all kinds of ‘hero’ in one man, writes UMANG AGGARWAL
Woh Punjabi mein kehte hain na, ‘Biba munda hai yeh’ (It’s like they say in Punjabi, ‘Sweet child he is). I was such a good boy. I mean I am. Why am I talking in the past tense? Even as a kid, I was shy and would keep to myself. I was always sincere. Be it studying or sports. I wouldn’t say competitive, but I was very sincere,” says Vicky Kaushal, the actor who has effortlessly portrayed the passionate Vicky Sandhu in Manmarziyaan, the poised and charming Iqbal Syed in Raazi, the bankable Kamli in Sanju, and the adorable Sanjay in Love Per Square Foot — all in the same year and each performance as incontestable as the other. He is set to play an Army officer in the film Uri, which is based on the 2016 attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. His secret? “(I just want) to not be complacent. When you are on set, people really take care of you. You are pampered and anything you want is available. So, that shouldn’t go to your head. My aim is to treat every film of mine as my debut film, so that it has a sense of being uncontaminated.”
Kaushal should have ‘arrived’ with his powerful performance in Masaan in 2015. While the movie enjoyed its own share of acclaim, Kaushal’s craft has been truly appreciated only this year as he has shown that he can find a die-hard Pakistani patriot, a reckless DJ, and the sexually inexperienced, gullible and homely boy (Paras in Lust Stories) within him. With such different characters brought to the screen with an effortless believability, one can’t help but wonder, what must Vicky Kaushal be like in real life? How many layers must his own personality have for him to be able to portray so many kinds of hero so easily? By his own admission, the actor is closest to his characters in Masaan and Manmarziyaan, and aspires to, some day, become like his character in Raazi.
“I believe every character is present inside you, but if I really have to pick and choose one that is closest to my own personality, then I would say that actually I can’t pick one, there’s two. And it’s weird that they are both so diversely opposite to each other. But I really can relate to both of them. One is Deepak from Masaan and the other one is Vicky Sandhu from Manmarziyaan. And what I kept saying during the promotions (of Manmarziyaan) also — everybody has a Clark Kent and a Superman inside, right? Everybody has an alter ego. So, what I am in reality when you meet me and talk to me and how I am to people in general is Deepak from Masaan, who is the Clark Kent. But there is a Vicky Sandhu inside, who is the Superman side of Deepak. So, both shades are there and I could relate very much to both of them. Being a Punjabi, who’s always thrived on Punjabi music and culture... I speak Punjabi at home with my family... Vicky Sandhu is very much — I mean not considering the carelessness and the way he is not a shining star when it comes to taking responsibility, the commitment, not those elements — but just the vibrancy of it, the colour of Vicky Sandhu, and the sincerity of Deepak is something that I can relate to.
“In fact, a transition has happened. I have always been the Deepak from Masaan; I was this under-confident guy, who was happy to be lost in the crowd, not to be pinpointed at that, you know, ‘He’s very good.’ I was the shy, coy guy. So, there was a Deepak (in me) for the longest time of my life. And in some situations, he does still come up. But every film gives you a lot of confidence. The reactions of people and critics and everybody — that gives you a lot of confidence. My journey till now has made me a much more confident person and much more extrovert than I was till now,” he reveals.
As far as one of his most successful performances, Iqbal Syed from Raazi, is concerned, he says: “I am a very good listener. (I listen) to the point that I almost get faulted for not talking much. So, that is one trait I have; I can really hear you out and then put across my point. I am not a very impulsive person. Even when things are not going right, I don’t react impulsively. I just take it in and in my own good time, I react. But Iqbal is actually husband material. I look up to him and I would love to be an Iqbal to somebody some day.”
Fortunately or unfortunately for all his female fans, Kaushal does not consider himself to be Iqbal Syed-level husband material yet. He blushes when complimented on his looks and gets embarrassed when he gets female attention. But like many of the characters he has portrayed on screen recently, he has no qualms in going for an arranged marriage. In his own words: “There is time. Let me just sort myself. People say you never feel ready, but I just feel there is time — not much, I am 30 now. Sooner or later, it will happen but I am not in a hurry.” Later, he says, “Even if it’s an arranged marriage, I will meet the girl and connect with her, and of course we will go forward only if we connect.”
As of now, he says he doesn’t know how to respond to female attention. “I just melt; full chaud mein ice bankar jaata hu. Jaise hi ek compliment milta hai, water bankar pighal jaata hu! (When I step out, I am all cool and confident. But the moment I get a compliment, I melt!) My very close girl pals from my engineering days keep telling me that I need to learn how to take compliments from girls. And I am like: ‘What do I do if I start blushing?’ So that’s something that I’m trying to learn. I still don’t feel that I am good looking. I still remember when I decided that engineering is not something that I want to take up as a career, I was thinking about what I want to do. And if this is something that I don’t want to do because I don’t connect with it, then whatever I connect with, I will do that. And I was always acting on stage since childhood — not like I was doing Shakespeare’s plays, but little performances here and there. I felt that this is a space where I can do and say anything I want; it’s allowed. It’s all valid; it just has to be entertaining. Be it in school or college, most of them were dance competitions. So, I was like: ‘Ok, acting?’ Acting bhi main pehli dafa apne aap ko question mark ki tarah hi bol paya tha. (The first time I thought I wanted to act, I said that to myself as a question). I wasn’t so confident because I was this lanky, underweight fellow with curly hair and crooked teeth. But all I knew was that performing for an audience gives me a lot of happiness.” The only thing that Kaushal repeats is his belief that while acting, one can do anything. This superhero appeal of the craft is what drove him towards this profession.
Why did he go for engineering in the first place, though? The actor explains, “I was just going with the flow. In my family, we were very clear that we have to finish graduation before you decide what you want to do. After graduation, we can do whatever we want, but the rule that we have to graduate first is non-negotiable. I had scored well in Class 10; I was a good student and got good marks. I really liked studying maths because it didn’t require you to rote-learn. Medical was out of question because I can’t rote-learn. So, I took up engineering. And I had no problem; I was having a good time. It was in post-graduation, when you go to companies to get a job that I realised that I wouldn’t be happy even if I was the CEO. And that gave me clarity on what I don’t want to do in life. So, a day after graduation, I was checking out acting academies in Mumbai. I believe no experience is a waste of time. I am not using algebra right now, but sometimes it’s just the discipline that comes into your character when you are pursuing engineering. It’s the habit of working hard that stays with you.”
Outside the world of engineering and into the world of filmmaking, Kaushal has had a chance to make some new friends. He says: “Wherever you shoot for a film, you are on a journey and you are living a story together. Alia Bhatt is fantastic; Ranbir Kapoor is amazing — I wish to keep working with him in the future. Taapsee Pannu and I share a space where we can be very good critics of each other — we can just pick up the phone and say, ‘Arrey kya kar rahi hai? Yeh bewakoofi hai, aisa mat kar, waisa mat kar.’ (Why are you being stupid or don’t do this, don’t do that).”
The occupational hazards of filmmaking can sometimes be as entertaining as the movie itself. Kaushal says that once he indulges in a character, there are times when he doesn’t feel like coming out of that zone and it starts influencing his personal life till he consciously pulls himself out of it. “For Masaan, I didn’t know Banaras, I didn’t know how the people there are. I had to play a guy who is from a different community and who burns corpses at the ghat. So, all of that was very new to me; I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know the language. I didn’t know how the life of a person would be who just repeats ‘Ram Naam Satya Hai’ all through the day. For Vicky Sandhu, even though I hadn’t done anything like it before, I could relate to the context. Because culturally, I am very much in touch with Punjab. My family is from Hoshiarpur; I go there every year. I know Punjab. I know how the youth has changed. I know how their aspirations have changed. What’s trending there, what’s not. How is the music of that place. Food, clothes, everything. So, it was very easy for me to relate to him. He is very expressive. If he is happy, he will start dancing in the middle of the road. If he is sad, he will cry like a baby. Unlike me, he is impulsive. So, there was this mental note that don’t bind yourself; Vicky Sandhu would express to the fullest. But Deepak (Masaan) was a character that I loved indulging in. It was such a nice character, such a nice world that even after the shoot got over, you really wanted to be like him; he was an ideal man. You hope to be as sincere and earnest as Deepak.
In fact, when I came back to Mumbai from the shoot, firstly my manner of speaking had changed. That was because in Banaras, everybody is like, “Arrey hum yahan aa rahe hain, aap wahan chale jao.” Wahan tu-tadaak nahin hai. Jab main Mumbai aaya, mera hum, aap, tum hi chal raha tha. Main tu par aa hi nahin paaya. For the longest time, mujhe ‘tu’ lagta tha jaise main kisi ko gaali de raha hu, itni badtameezi lagti thi. Jab koi mujhe tu bolta tha to mujhe bhi gussa aata tha... mujhse chhota hai aur mujhe tu bolkar baat kar raha hai. (In Banaras, people use pronouns like hum and aap, which carry more respect. So when I came back to Mumbai, tu, which is more casual, started sounding disrespectful to me). I had to tell myself, ‘Three months ago, you were also that, so chill.’
“Raman Raghav was emotionally and mentally exhausting. It’s in a really dark space. After 21 days of mostly non-stop shoots, I used to be all grungy and claustrophobic and morose; something or the other was going wrong. So, I didn’t take a day to indulge in that character. Like today, we wrap up the shoot, next day I am out of it. Because you just don’t want to be that character. You are waiting for the movie to end because then you will be done with that character.”
The phase of cinema, that mainstream Indian movies are currently in, is the biggest reason that his work has been acknowledged, Kaushal feels. “I feel extremely lucky that I could get into this phase of cinema because I feel, cinema has always kept changing depending on the evolution of the audience and what is going on in society. So, our audience right now is evolving in a beautiful way. Around 15 to 20 years ago, we were an audience which demanded the stars to keep showing us the things that we liked to see from them. Even if it’s repeated film after film, we would love them for it. We will say we will clap for you, we will whistle for you because it’s a side of yours that we love to see. Today is the time when the audience is saying that we need to be surprised, we need to be shocked. Otherwise, we are not coming to the theatres if you are saying the same things again and again — no matter who the star is. So, that is giving a lot of power to new writers, new concepts, new thoughts to come to the forefront. Earlier, people would talk about formulas to successful films. Today, ‘formula’ is an extinct term. Today, content is the king. You just come out with good content that you feel people will get connected with, no matter who the face of the content is and who the people are. If it’s worth appreciation, people will appreciate it. They will go to the theatres, there will be mouth publicity and they will make sure that theatres of full people are watching the films. Because of this, a Neeraj Ghaywan could make a film like Masaan, which could star new faces apart from Richa Chadda and Sanjay Mishraji. It starred completely new faces and it could see the light of the day... because we, to be very honest, were never sure if this film was going to be released while we were making it. It was just a film that we were very happy to be shooting because we knew that the script is noble. And after that, we went to Cannes, we won two awards. Then we got a release over here, which everyone appreciated a lot. In fact, it had come out with Baahubali that year. Bajrangi Bhaijaan was also going strong, but still it kind of made its own path and audience, who came and watched it.
“Later, even on digital platforms, people kept watching it and we still get messages about Masaan. So, definitely, I feel like I lucked out. Today, a Masaan or The Lunchbox or Ankhon Dekhi can get a mainstream audience view. This year has been beautiful: Raazi could garner the same box-office numbers as Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety; and then Stree and Sanju did well alongside Padmaavat. So, you look at the range of films. Because the content was good, they crossed the Rs 100-crore mark. There was a time when we wanted to watch aspirational stories; show us stories that we don’t see in real life, show us the world that we always think in our head that ‘I wish I lived in a world like this’. They wanted the ideal world. The love stories were aspirational. The vengeance stories were aspirational. Today, it’s either The Avengers, where it’s a different world altogether. But if it’s human stories, they have to be relatable. They are not aspirational heroes; they are heroes in their own context. I am an actor and it is my responsibility to entertain people. So, I just want to explore any and every genre that my heart connects with. And I just want to jump into it, not thinking about the genre or the sensibility. I want to do anything and everything. Because even with commercial films right now, if the content is not there, people won’t accept it. It has to have content no matter if it is a star-driven film or a small budget film.”
It’s probably good that digital platforms are all the rage at this time. Lead of the first Netflix Original from India — Love Per Square Foot — he says, “With Netflix, the beauty is that you are going live to 150 countries at the same time. And it’s there, it stays — there’s no hurry or a limited time period for which the movie is going to be showcased. After Love Per Square Foot, we had people from Spain telling us that they faced the same problem in buying a house, and they had never even been to Mumbai. That’s when we realised that different cultures can come together through this.”
About the controversy surrounding his latest release Manmarziyaan — some pertinent scenes were deleted as they hurt Sikh sentiments — Kaushal says that while audience’s sentiments are paramount, the only thing that hit him was, “Yeh kab se hone lag gaya ki ab mandiron mein kya sochna hai woh bhi insaan ab tay karenge. (Since when have people started deciding what other people are or are not allowed to think about inside a place of worship). That’s humans trying to be protectors of God. But ultimately, it’s the producer’s call. Because as actors, we do our jobs and go home. But later, if something goes wrong and distributors call to say that certain groups might force the theatres to shut down, the producer has to deal with it.”
When one speaks with Kaushal, the person, he is a mix of the ideal young man who knows he is going to be a big shot, but also the art of not allowing success go to his head. He believes in putting his heart into his work because he wakes up each day to prove something — more to himself than to others. The moment the focus of the conversation drifts from his own self to his work, he assumes an almost enviable and endearing sense of maturity that shows in his portrayal of the characters he has taken up. And when he speaks about a general, culturally relevant issue, he exhibits the kind of balance in his opinion that very few people manage to find in their 30s. Going by even just the many promises he has made through his performances and demeanour this year, he is definitely an actor worth the wait.
