With his hands clasped politely in front of him, actor Vijay Varma speaks softly. His amiable persona cuts a very different figure from Ankit Malhotra, the aggressive misogynist he played in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Pink (2016). Though the role was a disturbing one, Varma is far from being uncomfortable when he is recognised as Malhotra. “As an actor… we are all like narcissists, right? All attention-seeking,” he jokes.
This association will soon change for Varma who will be seen in his first lead role in Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout as Sub-inspector Adi Kulshreshtha. The noir thriller revolves around the idealist young cop who finds himself morally torn between choices that could result in the nabbing of a murderer, or the shooting of an innocent man. Selected for screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, the film’s narrative structure is unique as it explores three different scenarios that could branch out from Kulshreshtha’s encounter with the murder suspect Shiva.
The project was put into motion in 2011, and over the past six years its stars have charted their own paths to success in Indian cinema. Nawazuddin Siddiqui ( Gangs of Wasseypur series, Raman Raghav 2.0 ), plays Shiva, and other members of the cast include young and now well known faces of the alternate film circuit like Tannishtha Chatterjee and Geetanjali Thapa. But at the time, Varma was even newer to the field, and getting on board Monsoon Shootout felt like less of a choice. “I was getting a chance to play a lead in a film made by some of the coolest people,” says Varma. “I was already a fan of Nawaz, [and I had seen] Amit’s short film Bypass and was floored. I learnt Guneet [Monga], Anurag [Kahyap] and international producers [were] on board. So it was like a dream vehicle – it was like a Karan Johar launch for me. It can’t get bigger than that for somebody who has come from outside [the industry].”
While the young actor felt the need to grab on to the opportunity, he soon found that the script’s narrative deeply interested him. Varma admits the unfolding of the plot reminded him of the German thriller Run Lola Run (1998), and Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese classic Rashomon (1950), but as a gamer, the multiple storylines were especially exciting. “It was like going into a world that I love – of having different perceptions [on the] same event,” says Varma, taking about how the film reminded him of interactive video games. But sharing that experience with Indian audiences has been a long exercise in waiting.
In the years between Monsoon Shootout’s production and release, Varma has been a part of films like the historical drama Chittagong (2012), and the action film Rangrezz (2013). But he has not been seen as a film’s protagonist. He shares that it was difficult maintaining his outwardly patience. “I was terribly broken, disheartened… I had to start all over again, [and] build a certain kind of trust in [other’s] eyes that I could do something,” the actor shares, “I was not getting offered major roles.” Yet, in the actor’s young career, he has been to Cannes and shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan in the courtroom drama Pink .
The journey has been long and arduous, and not unlike many others and Adi Kulshreshtha, Varma’s life changed overnight at definitive points. Growing up in a traditional Marwari family in Hyderabad, the ninth grader Varma was struck by the glamour of Bollywood and realised he wanted to become an actor. But he says that at the time, “It was a very embarrassing thought.” He shares that his father expected him to follow his footsteps and join the family business. It was in college there that the actor secretly took part in theatre, and Varma soon decided to leave home to join the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.
Today, despite his exposure to film and theatre being minimal in his formative years, Varma does his best to watch a new film every day. But he admits that of late he is recovering from binging online series. “If you binge-watch, it does nothing to your system, or to your evolution,” explains Varma. “It’s very gratifying… [but] you are destroying the learning [behind] it,” he adds.
While the actor is waiting to add Suresh Triveni’s Tumhari Sulu and Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz to his daily list of films to watch, he has a number of his own lined up for release. Varma will next be seen in his first Telugu film, MCA (Middle Class Abbayi ) as a villain, and Cheers! – a webseries about a group of friends reuniting in Goa, with segments shot on a 360ᵒ camera. Varma will also be seen in Counterfeit Kunkoo which will be screened at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
