Mumbai, Apr 10 (PTI) From making it to Cannes with “Monsoon Shootout” to taking a rickshaw to the private terminal only to share a charter plane with Amitabh Bachchan, actor Vijay Varma says his career has been a series of surprising extremes with long idle spells in between that only ended when “Gully Boy” finally threw open all the doors.
Much like his character Brij Bhatti from the upcoming series “Matka King”, a man who rides the highs and lows of fortune, Varma said his own journey in showbiz has been anything but a straight line.
“The first festival that I went to was Cannes with my film ‘Monsoon Shootout’, before anything had been released. I could not have done a bigger dhamaka (blast) than this, but after this, I was sitting idle for many years. So, that was also a good surprise,” the actor, a Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) graduate who came to Mumbai in early 2000s, told PTI in an interview.
For his 2016 film “Pink”, in which he played a negative role, Varma travelled to Delhi in a private charter with co-star Amitabh Bachchan for a special screening with then-President Pranab Mukherjee, he recalled.
“I remember I took a rickshaw from home to the private terminal. Then I took a private charter (flight) with Mr. Bachchan and went there. After finishing that, I came back from the jet, took a rickshaw and came back home. It was a lovely journey,” he said.
After “Pink”, Varma went on to appear in a couple of films — Tigmanshu Dhulia’s “Raag Desh”, Nandita Das’s “Manto”, and Telugu title “Middle Class Abbayi”, co-starring Nani and Sai Pallavi.
“(But) then again there was a lull until ‘Gully Boy’ happened in my life, which was a significant moment. The door suddenly started opening for me,” he added.
“Gully Boy”, Zoya Akhtar’s 2019 musical drama starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, turned out to be a gamechanger for Varma, who earned praise from the critics for his portrayal of Moeen Arif, a street thug who is a close friend of Singh’s budding rapper Murad.
“First time I heard paps call out my name, my character’s name, that’s when I felt what a successful film does to you. It does not make the career of just one person but everyone’s career. Both me and Siddhant Chaturvedi benefited so much from ‘Gully Boy’. So, that was a surprise. Since then, I’ve been presenting three or four projects a year,” Varma said.
Since “Gully Boy”, Varma has not looked back, delivering a string of varied performances — a supporting turn in Mira Nair’s “A Suitable Boy”, a dual role in “Mirzapur”, an alcoholic and abusive husband opposite Bhatt in “Darlings”, a smart and charming cop in “Jaane Jaan”, a serial killer in “Dahaad”, a pilot of a hijacked plane in “IC 814”, and a romantic lead in “Gustaakh Ishq”.
Varma said his constant fight has been to avoid being “caged” into specific roles.
“From not having any work to doing smaller roles and then being restricted to them, it was hard to break out and do anything that is not a small part or not a friend who is giving high five to the hero. Then they offered me a big villain and they put me in that bracket very strongly.
“I’m like ‘I’m bigger than this, I can do more, break out of that and do something else.’ Every time somebody tries to put me in any kind of a cage or a mould, my tendency is to just break it open,” the actor said.
And this is something that Varma finds strikingly familiar in his “Matka King” character Brij Bhatti who struggles to challenge the class divide within the world of gambling.
The upcoming show is directed by Nagraj Manjule and created and written by Abhay Koranne.
“He just doesn’t subscribe to the idea that only rich people are allowed to gamble because it’s fun for them, while poor people can’t because it’s considered morally right or wrong. Why is there such a divide?” “Matka King” follows the story of Brij Bhatti, a sharp-minded and enterprising cotton trader, who navigates the fast-changing landscape of 1960s Bombay in pursuit of legitimacy and respect.
Varma said he knew little about the world of Matka, a numbers-based gambling racket that was once rampant across India, when the makers approached him.
The actor added that he agreed to be a part of the project because of his desire to work with Manjule, known for critically-acclaimed movies such as “Fandry”, “Sairat” and “Jhund”.
“Usually, every actor says that I want to work with this director but I was genuinely crazy for this man,” he said.
The actor describes “Matka King” as his “most mature and responsible” work till date. The show is set to debut on Prime Video on April 17.
“I’ve truly understood what it means to collaborate with your filmmaker, producer, being part of how it should be released, what I can add in the marketing. So, I’ve been trying to learn more and more skills as I grow. I’ve matured a bit,” he said.
“Matka King” also features Kritika Kamra, Gulshan Grover, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, and Jamie Lever.
The series is produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, Gargi Kulkarni, Ashwini Sidwani, and Ashish Aryan, under the banners of Roy Kapur Films, Aatpat, and SMR Productions. PTI KKP RB BK RB
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