Ready Steady Go

Small Steps, Big Wins... Vicky Kaushal Is Now in the Hit League

- Ashwini Deshmukh

If there’s an actor, who has turned the nepotism theory on its head, it’s Vicky Kaushal. He’s an insider surely. But without the expected benefits. No red carpets were rolled out for him. No producers queued up to sign him. Rather, the son of veteran action-director Sham Kaushal, Vicky, carved his path by virtue of talent alone.

And this year has turned momentous for him. Rajkumar Hirani’s biopic on Sanjay Dutt, Sanju, had him play protagonist Ranbir Kapoor’s friend Kamli. Physically goofy and emotionally generous, Vicky hit the right notes with the audience. His act as a charming DJ in Anurag Kashyap’s love triangle, Manmarziyaan, has also been appreciated. In fact, the film also marks his debut as a singer with the song F for fyaar. Paired with Taapsee Pannu and Abhishek Bachchan, the Aanand L Rai production went through a lot of reshuffling where the casting and the director were concerned. Vicky beleives every film has his destiny and is glad he accepted the film that deals with modern-day love and its complexities. Mention must also be made about his understated take as Iqbal, a Pakistani military officer in Raazi, a few months ago. Produced by Junglee Pictures and Dharma Productions, and directed by Meghna Gulzar, Raazi, is an adaptation of Harinder Sikka’s novel Calling Sehmat. The film traced the trials and travails of an Indian spy (Alia Bhatt) around the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. Vicky is all praise for Alia and credits her for enabling him to give a nuanced performance. “Alia is one of the most amazing, spontaneous and natural actors we have. She doesn’t have a starry vibe. She never gave me the feeling that I should behave differently or get intimidated by her,” he says.