NewsX was recently joined by actor Vijay Varma in its special segment, NewsX A-List. Vijay won the hearts of Mirzapur fans by taking a double role in the series. He spoke to NewsX about his twin role in Mirzapur season 2 and how he has been receiving love for the same from the audience.
Talking about the tremendous love that Mirzapur 2 received, Vijay said, “So I knew I was walking into an absolute blockbuster of a franchise, there was no uncertainty in terms of people wanting to watch it, we all knew that people want to watch season 2. So that wasn’t a concern but the expectations were so high that it was always difficult to see if we can live up to them, or what if we go short, and what kind of response we will receive if a piece goes out. So all of those factors were considered, but the makers were so certain about what they wanted to tell and they went out to make it, the positivity was there, floating all the time on set.”
Vijay wasn’t a part of the first season of Mirzapur but he had watched it as a fan and he seemed to have loved it. “I was pretty blown by what I saw and I enjoyed what was happening on the screen, and I was glued in and I binged it. So a few months later, when I was approached for the double role, I jumped on it because I knew that this was already a widely appreciated and a popular series. At the same time, I enjoy what they’d made so creatively and commercially, I found it deeply satisfying to be a part of the project, so it was a no brainer personally,” said Vijay.
Mirzapur 2 is already doing great in terms of numbers but for people who still haven’t watched it, the makers started a campaign called “Nahi Dekhe? Galati Kiye.” According to Vijay, “I think this is something that we don’t need to tell a lot of people because I’m sure their friend circles have told them already. So we just making sure that we are also telling you that you’re really missing out in it, and you have made a mistake because you’re not able to hang out with your own friends and family and are not able to discuss so many things around you because you like a fool, have not seen it.”
After the success of Mirzapur season 2, all the fans of the franchise are now anticipating season 3. “I am personally in no hurry, I’m really enjoying Season 2 right now and what is this doing to all of us. So I would also recommend the same that we really enjoy season 2, watch it again and if you like it and there is enough in season 2 for you to find more and welcome people to come in. If we just put in a lot of effort to bring one season out, it takes a lot. I mean for it to be good we need a lot of time so don’t be impatient with season 3,” said Vijay Varma.
Vijay took on a double role in the series and he delivered an amazing performance with both his characters. Addressing the challenges he faced while shooting, he said, ” It was doubly challenging because we were shooting in the middle of summer. It was hot as a microwave oven and it took me and the makers a little bit of learning to understand how to extract this because it’s not like you can do the same with two people and get the effect. I had to do the whole scene all over again as one of the brothers and then we’ll have to repeat the scene till we get several shots within the scene. So if a scene is supposed to take say four or five hours to get done, it will require eight nine hours because the whole exercise was repeated for both the brothers. Personally, it was a challenge but I really like these kinds of challenges. So I was really relishing every moment of it. Sometimes, the hours were longer, 18 hours a day or 19 hours a day because we had to get the scene done otherwise it would be difficult to recreate that as
it was all over again. So yeah, it was a bit of learning but we are glad because when you see the effect of it and when it is done with the post and with the VFX, it feels like a magic trick that just happened. We know what went behind it but the effect of it is very nice.”
Talking about the character Vijay liked the most in both the seasons, Vijay expressed, “I was particularly mesmerized by Guru Pandit character played by Ali in season 1 and in season 2, I was smitten by Rasika’s performance of Beena,
which I believe was such an eye-opener and in such a complex character, and it’s such a mastermind. So I enjoyed it, I mean, I enjoyed most of them. That’s why I was able to get glued into the world and I was completely invested. But if you just ask for one, then these are the two.”
Not only series like Mirzapur but a lot of movies as well were released on the OTT platforms this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the theatres were closed. Talking about the future of the OTT platforms after the theatres reopen, Vijay said, “I think because the theatres went around, people are consuming a lot more content online because we anyway have a lot of time. In my lifetime at least, I saw people have so much time on their hands
and for art, they had nowhere else to look but at OTTs. So, they will continue to do so and I feel the more the merrier, the more platforms, the more ways to entertain and find entertainment, the better it is because we want to lose ourselves after a long day’s work from the tragedy of our own lives and so on and so forth.”
Vijay shared his life’s ‘game-changer’ moments with NewsX, he said, “I’ve had two game-changers, one was me deciding to go to FTI to study, pursue acting and running away from home. That took a bit of courage from my end and a bit of planning and also like, at that age, a lot of balls to do that and the second game-changer, which became a very deep acknowledgement from the fraternity and from the audience happened with Gully Boy. So these are the two shape-shifting events of my life.”
Further, Vijay spoke about his character Moeen Khan from the film Gully Boy, he said, “I didn’t anticipate it to become something because it was one of the smaller parts in the story. And the story already had such an incredible
collage of not just great actors, but also great characters with great music, and there are so many elements that are running and with such limited screen time, I didn’t anticipate it to become something. I knew that it would get an appreciation for the way it was written and played out, I guess but the way the characters spoke to people, I could not even anticipate it and I was deeply moved.”
Vijay Varma has garnered enough fame and following for himself with his outstanding performances, but other than his acting, Vijay is quite popular among women for his fashion and style. Talking about his style quotient, he said, “I think being true to not following trends and also with a deep love for anything vintage, retro, anything that has a memory to it, I always carry outfits and accessories and stuff like that which becomes very deeply personal for me and they may not be in Vogue but they are in my heart so that was like, my type.”
As the world is going through a pandemic for the last many months, Vijay has had many highs and lows during these times as well. “There has been a lot of work reach into the audience. Certainly, through the pandemic, I’ve been able to have like maybe like six or seven releases, which is a lot and too much of me out there. None of my work is sitting in some harddrive in somebody’s office anymore. So that’s been a high and a great high. Lows, I would say that just the loneliness of it all because I was locked up in my Bombay house all alone right at the beginning of the pandemic under lockdown and took me a bit of learning to even like to spend 24 hours a day with myself, with nobody to help me and nobody to look after me and nobody to really sit and play cards with me. So the solitary confinement was a bit of training and at the same time gave me time to reflect upon my life and reconnect with some old friends and family members in a way that was profoundly important. So I feel every low has a potential in it to give you something that can make you really go high.”