‘After Pink, the only roles offered to me would be that of a woman-beater’
Typecasting actors in similar roles has been Bollywood’s forte. Right from actors who would be seen as the villain in umpteen films in the 1980s and 90s, to the ones who would make the audience laugh, they would be repeated in the same kind of roles.
Unfortunately, this practice got carried over into the 2000s and continues till now. And actor Vijay Varma reveals it was his reality too. Ever since he made his presence felt with Pink (2016), where he played the violent Ankit Malhotra, he was typecast as a ‘molester’.
“The variety of roles I am getting now... I have wanted this for long. Because after Pink, it was just about me and a girl being molested. Again and again, the roles offered would be of me being a wifebeater, bhabhi-beater, some man who basically is a bloody chauvinist, and varieties of chauvinism,” says the 33-yearold actor.
He adds that it did not end there. “Even till date, there are some directors who shared that they liked (my performance), but they just couldn’t imagine me in any other role. I felt like directors have such incredible imagination… but after Gully Boy (2019), the direction changed. The character, being so dark in terms of shades, still had some humanity, which people really connected with. Now I get lead roles in movies and shows too. Or I play a key member,” says Vijay, who has a busy 2020 with the period drama A Suitable Boy and an action thriller film along with Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor.
Excited about the film, Vijay says, “That’s another kind of challenge. It’s a fullfledged role. Action is Tiger’s forte, and my character is there to lighten up the moment. I am attempting comedy for the first time. There is a certain kind of quality in the character which could be so endearing.”
Rishabh Suri