Bollywood outcast Vivek Oberoi returns with PM Narendra Modi by his side to reset his career

Vivek Oberoi had been a Narendra Modi devotee since his Gujarat days to become film producer Sandip Singh’s ‘only choice’ to play the prime minister.

Vivek Oberoi as PM Narendra Modi during the shoot of his upcoming film 'PM Narendra Modi', in Varanasi | PTI

Among the many memes circulated during the 2014 swearing-in of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister, one was particularly spot on. It was about the presence of Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi at the event. It said: ‘Divided by Aishwarya, United by Modi.’

That was an early sign of what Modi’s fandom could do – bring together even sworn enemies from Bollywood on the same stage. Nearly five years later, and after moments of bonding with several filmstars, PM Narendra Modi is set to make it to the silver screen, where the one taking an oath for him is… Vivek Oberoi.

From congratulating Modi on his “thundering win” for a third term as the chief minister of Gujarat to wishing him on his birthday, Vivek Oberoi has followed Modi long before other celebrities jumped onto the Modi bandwagon.

As proud Indian citizens, we all must leave no stone unturned to fight any evil in our country. Lets all pledge to unite towards a stronger and progressive India. We are all with you @narendramodi ji. Jai Hind ?? #MainBhiChowkidar

— Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) March 16, 2019

Many happy returns of the day to our Honorable PM @narendramodi ji. Wish you a long, healthy and prosperous life. Your selflessness is an inspiration to all of us. More power to you sir! #HappyBdayPMModi pic.twitter.com/N9d0XZQVwY

— Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) September 17, 2018

When the schedule for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon several film and media personalities on Twitter, encouraging them in made-to-order tweets to “enrich the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with their active participation”. In specially curated tweets, he called upon actors such as Mohanlal and Nagarjuna (13 March) as well as Ranveer Singh, Varun Dhawan and Vicky Kaushal to motivate youngsters.

The run-up to the general elections 2019 has seen Bollywood’s pop patriarch Karan Johar shepherding a group of young stars, from Ranveer Singh to Ranbir Kapoor, from Ayushmann Khurrana to Bhumi Pednekar to meet the Prime Minister and promise to make “nation building” cinema. It has seen a series of nationalistic movies, from Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika to Akshay Kumar’s Kesari. And it has seen the election staple of the entry of stars into politics amplified across parties, from Urmila Matondkar joining Congress to Nusrat Jahan joining Trinamool Congress.

But fanboy Vivek Oberoi’s assiduous devotion taking the form of hagiography was perhaps the natural culmination of the Modi-fication of Bollywood and the politicisation of other cinemas. The trailer of PM Narendra Modi, the forthcoming biopic on the prime minister that is controversially scheduled to release on 5 April, a week before voting begins for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, gives us a sense of the deification of the man — with dialogues such as “Jo desh ko chahte hain, woh aur kuch nahin chahte”; “desh ke har kone mein tiranga lehrayega”; “Hindustan aatank se nahin, aatank Hindustan se darega”; and “Hindustan banne ke baad bhi hum Hindustani nahin ban paaye”. Filmmaker Omung Kumar’s depiction of Narendra Modi’s life comes along with a web series on Eros Now, called Modi: Journey of a Common Man, capping an unusually hectic political season.

But Vivek Oberoi’s support to Modi is part of his family’s political tradition. Vivek’s father, Suresh Oberoi, has been a member of the BJP since 2004, joining the party in the company of Gajendra Chauhan, who played Yudhisthira in TV series Mahabharata and went on to head the FTII, and Navjot Singh Sidhu, who went on to join the Congress.

Vivek Oberoi, in fact, got married into a political family — his late father-in-law Jeevaraj Alva was a Karnataka powerhouse, and was for many years in the Janata Dal (United). Oberoi even campaigned for his mother-in-law, Nandini Alva, in 2014, when she contested and lost the Lok Sabha election from Bangalore (Central) on a JD(U) ticket.

Vivek Oberoi was an active campaigner for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, turning up in person to endorse Prime Minister Modi in Varanasi, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Amritsar and General V.K. Singh in Ghaziabad. Vivek, however, was also among the celebrities stung by Cobrapost in its cash-for-social media endorsement of BJP expose, Cobrapost Karaoke.

For the producer of PM Narendra Modi, Sandip Singh, Vivek Oberoi was the only choice to play the prime minister. “I needed someone who would give me a year of his life and who was as crazy as I was. We started the shoot of the film on January 28 and ended on March 22, It was not a simple film, because it spans 1962 to 2014 and encompasses nine or ten looks for Vivek. We could do it only because we had planned it meticulously. Every day, Vivek would come for the shoot at 2.30 am, sit for six hours in make-up and then go without food till the shoot ended at 8 pm, because you can’t eat with prosthetics.” Singh, who has known Oberoi since he was a journalist and the latter was a debutant on the sets of Company (2002), says they are both deeply interested in politics.

Vivek Oberoi as PM Narendra Modi | @vivekoberoi/Twitter

For those who came in late, Oberoi had self-destructed live on television, on 1 April, 2003.

He had accused Salman Khan of calling him in a drunken state as many as 41 times and using “gutter se gandi zubaan” linking him to Aishwarya Rai (as well as Dia Mirza, Rani Mukerji and Somy Ali). It is a moment that Oberoi has publicly regretted many times since, apologising to Khan at awards functions, going to meet his mother in hospital, and even going on a TV show anchored by director Farah Khan (Tere Mere Beech Main, 2012, Star Plus) to say “I became an outcast overnight”. “I was made fun of at every award show, people were told not to work with me, and signing amounts were returned to me,” he told Khan, adding that it was like starting over again with a “major minus”. He was also less than charitable about Rai, saying “there is less plastic in a Tupperware factory than our film industry. People with plastic smile and plastic heart.”

Salman Khan has strenuously denied having a role in sabotaging Oberoi’s career, saying on Rajat Sharma’s Aap Ki Adalat on India TV in 2014: “Har cheez ki expiry date hoti hai. Anger ki bhi expiry date honi chahiye. But woh naam kya hai unka? (at which point, Sharma helpfully supplies it, Vivek Oberoi) I won’t shake hands or talk to him ever again.”

Much as Vivek Oberoi would like to paint himself as the boy who lost his career to big boss Salman Khan, there is more to it. At that point in 2003, Oberoi was said to be dating his co-star Aishwarya Rai, who had recently broken off with Salman Khan. There were stories of Oberoi gifting Rai a puppy named Sunshine and being by her side when she was flown to Mumbai on a stretcher after an accident on the sets of Khakee. Rai was Bollywood’s reigning queen, having also captured Cannes with Devdas in 2002. Oberoi was the golden boy whom directors as varied as Mani Ratnam and Vishal Bharadwaj wanted to cast. Oberoi and Rai were acting in what seemed like the perfect rom-com vehicle for them, directed by Oberoi’s senior from Ajmer’s Mayo College, Samir Karnik. And if there was any doubt about their chemistry, they even did a Coca Cola ad together to complete the equation with: “Piyo thanda, jiyo thanda, Coca Cola”.

It was a match made in heaven. Except that it wasn’t. Oberoi, who had been hailed in 2003, just after Company and Mani Ratnam-penned Saathiya, as the next big thing, found his star had crashed. In a profile written in India Today then, Karan Johar, who has gone on to become one of the most powerful producers in Bollywood today, was quoted as saying: “Vivek has a screen presence. He will be a big star.”

Perhaps it was all a bit too much for a 26-year-old who had just entered the industry. Sujoy Ghosh, who directed Oberoi in Home Delivery (2005) says he will always be grateful to Vivek who chose to work with him at the peak of his career. “That was very gracious of him. He could easily have refused. I really couldn’t answer why his later films didn’t work because no one knows why a film works or fails. That’s the beauty of cinema. All of us are always starting from scratch with each film,” Ghosh said.

Whatever the reason, Oberoi could never fulfil his early promise, although his career has seen occasional success playing Arjun Balachandran in Mani Ratnam’s Yuva (2004), Kesu in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara (2006) and as Maya Dolas in Apoorva Lakhia’s Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007). Of late, his most memorable roles have been those of villains, from Kaal in Krrish 3 (which he had reportedly said was inspired by Heath Ledger’s life-defining act as Joker in The Dark Knight, 2008 and set off a social media controversy) to cricket entrepreneur Vikrant Dhawan with a passion for Yamazaki single malt and Wagyu steak in Amazon Prime’s Inside Edge. His career’s second biggest hit has been an adult sex comedy Grand Masti, a sequel to Masti, co-starring Aftab Shivdasani and Ritesh Deshmukh. Its idea of humour? Dialogues such as this abound in it: “Balaatkaar se yaad aaya, meri biwi kaha hai?” His biggest hit? Krrish 3 starring Hrithik Roshan.

Oberoi shares another trait with his erstwhile love rival Salman Khan — a passion for charitable acts. These have varied from rebuilding an entire village affected by the tsunami in 2004 to donating houses to families of 25 CRPF personnel killed in action. These were built by his company Karrm Infrastructure. Oberoi has been a good businessman, entering the construction business in 2012 with Raghuleela Infrastructure, in which he owns the majority equity. In 2015, the company announced its investment plans in Gujarat, where it is now developing a luxury township and a theme-based resort called Royal Beach City—The Goa. In 2016, he launched Karrm Infrastructure, entering the affordable-housing segment in Maharashtra. He also runs a non-profit called One Foundation focused on empowerment and nation-building, according to the same newspaper article.

Perfect resume, right? Philanthropy. Add to that talent, honed at New York University, and a director’s roster that includes India’s finest, from Mani Ratnam to Vishal Bharadwaj. His most recent co-actor, Darshan Kumaar, who plays a journalist based on Rajdeep Sardesai in PM Narendra Modi, says Oberoi is a “hard working and passionate actor who believes in leaving no stone unturned in making a good film”.

Perhaps the song Khallas, from his first film Company sums up Oberoi’s life at the movies: “Bachke tu rehna rey bachke tu rehna/Nahi duja mauka milega sambhalna (Be careful, you won’t get a second chance. Be careful).”

Is the biopic on Prime Minister Modi his second chance or is it too late? Bollywood knows best.

The author is a senior journalist.