Vijay Varma recalled his share of struggle in the industry, and also shared that he was dropped from popular projects like Sacred Games.
Though Vijay Varma first appeared on the screen in Manoj Bajpayee’s 2012 historical war drama, Chittigong, it was his portrayal of Moeen in Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt‘s Gully Boy that skyrocketed his popularity. The film was also submitted as India’s official entry to the Oscars.
The audience finally took notice of his talent in this film, and since then, the actor has established himself as a credible performer who always has an impressive act in store. In his recent interview with Indian Express, Vijay spoke about how he had to struggle for work before Gully Boy changed the game for him.
The actor said, “There were no offers until about post-Gully Boy. Casting directors did believe in me, but I was not given a chance for a long, long time.”
Further, he also shared how he was dropped from Anurag Kashyap’s Sacred Games after being locked in for the Netflix series.
In some auditions, I was on the waitlist, in the top five, top two and then I was locked and then I was dropped! I was locked in Sacred Games, I did my costume measurements and then I got dropped. Stuff like that has happened, but some part of me kept the faith and belief. Work started coming in after Gully Boy, but I think I was so starved for work, that I took a lot of it after the film,” Varma told the publication.
He further talked about how he wanted to make the most of the opportunities post Gully Boy, but didn’t realize that the industry had already started to typecast him for negative roles.
“When Darlings happened, I couldn’t imagine myself in that role and then a series of roles happened where I was playing extremely devious, atrocious or devious men. A part of me wanted to break it but I couldn’t possibly do it myself. I found great support in filmmakers, who said they had seen me like that and wanted to offer me something new.” the ‘Mirzapur’ actor shared.
He continued, “That’s how Sujoy Ghosh got me Jaane Jaan, where he decided to show me in a new light. Homi Adajania gave me Murder Mubarak, and Anubhav Sinha sir got me IC 814. Someone who has just seen Darlings and Dahaad will not think this is the most noble character we have, and we want this guy to play him. The industry works in mysterious ways, when they see potential in you, they also want to give you the chance to tap on the other side of you. I didn’t break any stereotypes, because I didn’t make any stereotypes. They made it, they broke it.”
Vijay’s latest release is Anubhav Sinha’s series, IC 814 in which he is seen playing the role of Captain Sharan Dev, the head pilot of the hijacked IC 814. The show is currently streaming on Netflix.
