THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

Jitesh Pillaai chats with Vicky Kaushal, who’ll soon be seen in Sardar Udham, and finds out that the actor is quite gung ho about playing the revolutionary hero

- Jitesh Pillaai

ACTORS ARE LIKE THE OCEAN. THEY HOLD SECRETS WITHIN. The secrets they hold are the secrets that shape their personality. There is tragedy, there is romance, there is heartbreak, there is validity. Vicky Kaushal is an ocean of expressions in an arid landscape. He will show you the truth on screen. Remember the heart-breaking scene in Masaan, where he mourns the loss of his fiancée and asks why doesn’t this pain get lesser. You can’t help but be moved by him.

That’s because he harnesses his ocean of secrets into the scene. The same ocean spills out in waves when he realises his wife’s betrayal in Raazi. It’s the same ocean of secrets which comes spilling out in Lust stories. He’s your everyman and it takes goddamn guts to do what he does. His outings in Uri also show him taking the way of valour without obviously falling prey to machismo. He does it subtly but effectively. That’s because he knows the secret. The same secrets he carries with him in the role of Udham Singh. Seething with the horror and violence unleashed in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Udham Singh worked studiously plotting the assassination of General O’Dwyer, the man who had ruthlessly ordered the killings twenty years before.

On the eve of the Sardar Udham’s release, I parlay with Vicky Kaushal to find out what made Udham Singh tick and how does he navigate the deep ocean and secrets within.

WHETHER IT’S RAAZI, SARDAR UDHAM OR EVEN SANJU YOU’VE CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY CHOSEN TO WORK IN BIOPICS. YOU ALSO HAVE SAM BAHADUR AFTER THIS...