As Vikrant Massey digs into more versatile roles, he also stands against the objectification of women. By Chahak Mittal

There’s more to relationships than just a physical and emotional connect, believes actor Vikrant Massey, who is all set to deliver yet another power-packed performance after Mirzapur in his forthcoming web series Broken But Beautiful.

He feels that relationships are an integral part of any person’s life. There is a “growing-up phase” in everyone’s life where he understands love and other feelings as he grows. But these emotions are “universal, irrespective of language barrier or any other thing.”

Talking about his character of Veer in the Alt Balaji show, he says that preparing for it turned out to be very “intense.” The story revolves around a guy and a girl (played by Harleen Sethi) in the city who have been hit by their fates so badly that they are now too shattered to move ahead.

Veer is an ambitious person, who loves his wife madly. But one fateful night, he loses all that he had including the love of his life. This, to Vikrant, is something that is true of real life. “It’s indicative of uncertainty, that no matter how much you plan and step out, there are things which you can’t predict. It’s life that takes you forward, you don’t take life ahead,” he says.

The actor was so “overwhelmed” by the role that he accepted it instantly. It taught him that life and relationships are not just about physicality and sentimentality, rather a connect that is beyond debate and even verbal understanding. “There are no words to explain a relationship that is deep in its own existence. And that’s how the show portrays the relation between Sameera (Harleen) and Veer,” adds he.

The actor who shot to fame with the show, Balika Vadhu, says that the transition from that 16-year-old Vikrant to the current has been a “seamless” one, but he has “evolved” a lot over the time.

From the show Dharam-Veer, to films like Lootera, Dil Dhadakne Do, Death in the Gunj, Lipstick Under My Burkha, web series Mirzapur, the actor has played numerous critically-acclaimed and widely-accepted versatile roles.

So how does he choose his roles? Says he, “Just one thing, the content and the story are a priority. And the question that who is saying this story? Me. It doesn’t matter how it gets delivered to the society, I just want to be a part of good stories.”

One, who has worked for the television, big screen, and now for the digital platform, can be called a master of experiments and exploration. But for Vikrant, it has all been the “same.” He says, “I had never thought that I would get a chance to work with Zoya Akhtar or Vikramaditya Motwane. I have never paid attention to the platform I was working for. But when I actually started working in films, it did bring a sense of satisfaction because it took a lot of time to understand the way the medium worked. But now that I have explored different platforms, I feel that everything is the same as well as different in their own way. There are pros and cons of every media. But yes, I am still exploring films.”

However, what is the most challenging one among all the three platforms? “It’s TV, for sure,” he answers. “Working and shooting for it is like a nine to five job, every day, every month. You need to be on your toes to meet serious deadlines. There are days when you are on the sets for almost 24 hours, which is physically and emotionally tiring,” he adds.

He feels that the one “advantage or a plus point” in the digital space is that it let’s you explore the wide array of options and have experiences, and that “it connects you to a larger arena around the world” as it is immediately accessible to everyone.

Giving the example of Mirzapur, he says that the show was available to almost 202 countries within one night. So “isn’t that kind of an exposure humongous?”

A recent PIL alleged that some of the  content on the online portals like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Hotstar is obscene and needs to be regulated under the Cinematograph Act of the Indian Penal Code. Vikrant strongly opposes censoring online content as it is a “platform of opportunities to showcase talent” to the world, which films cannot show, because they are limited. “We censor the theatre content as well even though this shouldn’t be done. There should be proper certification. Even TV has censorship, which is the biggest among all. So where do we showcase the hunar?”

More than censorship of content, the actor says, it is the kind of content that is going which should be the focus.  He raises some questions, “Is it really nudity or abusive language, vulgarity or sexually-indecent stories, that should be banned? Shouldn’t the content that promotes misogyny and sexual harassment against women be scrutinised more closely? It is also one of the platforms from where reality takes a shape.”

He adds, “Even today, there are shows on TV that show women as working in kitchens and getting tormented every now and then by their ‘cruel’ mothers-in-law. Shouldn’t this come in the spectrum? Rather the regressive content that objectifies women, I feel, should be censored.”     

 (The show begins from November 27.)