Vicky acts like he’s my father sometimes. - Sunny Kaushal

Yet another Kaushal has walked away with laurels in the past year. Sunny Kaushal, younger brother of the dashing Vicky Kaushal, won critics and audiences with his bravura act in Reema Kagti’s biopic Gold. His character, Himmat Singh, was reportedly based on Indian hockey player Balbir Singh Dosanjh, who played a key role in India’s win in London in 1948, Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in the 1956 Olympics. “The best compliment for me was that people believed I was a Sardar,” he says. But unlike the fiery Himmat Singh, Sunny insists he’s calm as a person. “I may be impulsive but I’m not aggressive. I’m simple and cannot manipulate people. I’m emotional and sometimes it doesn’t work in my favour,” he smiles. He’s all praises for director Reema Kagti. “Being a woman, Reema looks at things from an emotional angle. She’s highly focussed. She’s a taskmaster. It wasn’t easy tackling such a huge star cast,” he says. Akshay Kumar, who plays Tapan Das, the eccentric coach in the biopic, has also left him impressed. “Akshay is disciplined. He’s fitter than most of today’s generation.

I never saw him being upset about anything. He was always smiling, always happy,” he says.

Sunny intended to be a chartered accountant. But the monotony of doing a 9- 5 job made him quit his internship. Like his older brother, Vicky ( he gave up engineering to act), he too expressed his desire to act to his father, veteran action- director Sham Kaushal. “Dad cautioned us saying, ‘ I’m just an action director not a filmmaker. People will recognise you as my children, even offer you tea. But you’ll only get work if you have talent’,” reveals Sunny. Vicky is older to Sunny by a little more than a year. “We started our struggle together but Vicky got his break first,” he says of his brother, who wowed audiences with his roles in Raazi and Sanju this year. Sunny went on to be an assistant director in films My Friend Pinto and Gunday. He also did theatre. He made his debut film with Sunshine Music Tours And Travels in 2016. He’s also worked in the web series Love At First Sight.

Sunny hasn’t forgotten his humble roots. “We used to stay in a 10/ 10 chawl in Malad. We studied in an ordinary school. We used to travel by bus till we finished college. My mother ( Veena Kaushal) has made huge efforts to keep the family together. She’s the normal quotient in our home,” he maintains. Sunny hardly visited the sets of his father’s films. “I’ve visited dad’s sets only thrice – during Asoka, Fiza and Krrish. I was excited to see Hrithik Roshan. In Fiza, there was a scene in which Hrithik sets a bike on fire. There were retakes and retakes,” he recalls.

He values the bond he shares with elder brother Vicky. “We’re good friends. But at times he acts like my father. I look up to him. As kids, we had common friends. He’s protective about me. We may fight but if someone tries to hurt me, Vicky cannot tolerate it.” He dismisses any rivalry between them. “There should be healthy competition. Vicky advises, ‘ Whatever you do, do it with honesty’,” shares Sunny.

Recently, in the wake of the # MeToo campaign, their father Sham Kaushal was accused of sexual misconduct in the past. Sham issued an unconditional apology for ‘ unintentionally causing any hurt or anguish’ to anyone. “It was a tough time. Yes, it was disturbing. But you come out of it stronger as a family. He’s our father and as his children we’re always with him. We know him and we’ll always stand by him,” says Sunny. Apart from acting, Sunny enjoys painting. He’s also learning to play the jembe ( an African drum). He’s a romantic at heart. “I like simplicity in a woman. Big eyes attract me. You can’t define love, you can only feel it,” he says. Sunny will be seen in Kabir Khan’s web series next year. “I’d like to touch as many lives as possible through my characters,” he ends with a promise.