Until 13 months ago, it's safe to say that not many people had heard of Vijay Varma. The actor had worked for several years in critically acclaimed films such as Chittagong, Pink and Monsoon Shootout, which took almost six years to see the light of day, but it was his role of Moeen, a mechanic by day and a carjacker at night, in Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy that became by all means the turning point in his career.
In his latest project She, which follows the journey of a timid Mumbai police constable Bhumika Pardesi (Aditi Pohankar), who goes undercover to bust a drug ring, Varma plays a narcotics dealer called Sasya. The Netflix web series has been written by Imtiaz Ali, who is best known for his romance dramas.
Ahead of its streaming on March 20, Varma opens up about his experience working with Ali for the first time and reflects on surviving Bollywood without any godfather.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
What appealed to you about She?
I was kind of blown by the character of Sasya in She. It’s pretty explosive writing. I still can’t believe that it’s written by Imtiaz Ali, who writes certain kind of stories. So, a part of the big reason to sign She was also Imtiaz because I found the writing to be extremely intriguing. It looks like a cop investigation drama but it has a lot more going inside and that kept me very intrigued. Imtiaz gave me a lovely narration about the series and what he was expecting from my character which is very problematic. I was thrown off and drawn towards it at the same time.
Did you take inspiration from any particular show or character for this role?
No, not really because this is a very different person. I have not seen a character like this on screen. Also, the relationship between him and the cop is something which is not explored at all. I did watch some documentaries on sociopaths and that’s when I figured out some clues as to what could be the wiring inside his brain like. I also sat with Imtiaz and my co-actor Aditi to understand the dynamism between these two extremely unlikely people in one space.
What did you make of the sexism against woman constable in She when you read the script?
I felt like it was a true depiction of what could be a reality of the times that we are living in-- of women or a certain kind of patriarchy that we are deeply hardwired in. But at the same time, when you depict reality in the truest form, it’s kind of disturbing and liberating at the same time because we have largely spoken the truth in the series and speaking the truth is liberating.
Do you feel that She is more relevant than ever as it comes at a time when we are so used to watching glorification of male cops on the big screen?
That’s true. The male has been very well captured in our cinema, literature and other various places. But the understanding of female bravery is something that needs more exploration and voice. And, this comes at the right time and I absolutely agree with you. When you do something like this which is really like walking on a tightrope because you know what people are going to feel with what you can never really correlate, so we’re just keeping our fingers crossed because the intention is correct and I’m hoping that it all lands well. But I’d be curious to know what people feel about the show. It’s not an easy way out kind of a narrative, so we have tried to risk stuff and let’s see how the risk pays off.
You once said in an interview that you were drawn to morally ambiguous characters. But today in the midst of a collective cultural awakening of sorts-- fuelled by fierce criticism, how mindful are you about playing such parts on screen?
I’m drawn to these characters because I feel like I have the wavelength to understand them. When I read the story line of my part in Pink, I felt that it was the worst, ugliest character written in the entire script. He is the guy who is kidnapping the girl and molesting her inside the car, but the film required that one shade to complete the picture. And, I really felt that if I could contribute to the film by being that shade, I will. And the only responsibility that I gave myself and the makers gave to me was to make sure that it is so correct that when people see it, they feel like, ‘we have seen a man like that f**ker.’
I’m an artiste and I need to show you stories in their truest forms. Sadly, I’m not getting parts that are happy and celebrating a lot of bigger things as there are far too many people doing those roles. I’m getting these parts and I’m putting myself out there and giving them everything so that it becomes a wholesome portrayal of a complicated character that people can look at and say, ‘he is a good actor but I don’t want to be this part.’
Why would you say that you don’t get happy parts?
The thing is some of them have come to me and have been coming to me for a while. But it’s just I need to be completely sure that I can do something like that. And secondly, it has to be a really good script. I don’t want just to be a boy next door for the sake of it. Also, it’s too bland for my taste and I feel that there’s not much to do there. That’s when I say, I had a lot of fights in my life and if anything I represent, I represent the fight. So, I will fight basically (laughs).
You had said how people started calling you Moeen bhai after Gully Boy's success which was indeed a huge achievement. But do you ever see it as a baggage because every time one takes on a new role, one’s most popular role tends to overshadow it?
That’s true and I can see that happening to me now. It’s also because of the magnitude of the success that Gully Boy managed to achieve. It broke into people’s imagination and psyche and penetrated deep and hard. I think it will take some time for people to shake that off. And, I will give them that time. It’s just I have so much work coming out now for people to form an opinion and see me in a different light and I’m working in that direction now. I have done a comedy just now which is a completely different thing for me. It is a lot more fun. In fact, my character in Baaghi 3 has been evoking laughter. So, I don’t think it’s a baggage that you don’t want. You can live with it.
I recently interviewed Gulshan Devaiah, in which he told me that he got immense fame after his popular role in Shaitan but he didn’t know how to handle it because he didn’t have anyone around to guide him. Have you ever had a similar experience, considering you too didn’t have any godfather in the film industry?
That’s how it is. If I were working in my family business, I would have had a lot of key inputs and insights, which I don’t apparently have right now. I had to understand what the true meaning of it was because I had to wait for six years for one film to release. So yeah, it happens and you learn. Also because, you have nothing else to do in this life, but to act (laughs). So, you just keep your sanity intact and work towards creating more work.
Do you ever still feel like an outsider?
The feeling has come down drastically. It’s not completely gone away. But I do feel the acceptance from the film fraternity. It suddenly seems like a small space now. It no longer looks like a giant hall which I had no familiarity with. Now it looks like a small room.
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