Beyond Call Sheets

Vicky Kaushal is obsessed with the fi lmmaking process, even as he explores a range of roles.

- Priyanka Bhadani

When he returned from Varanasi after shooting for Masaan (2015), Vicky Kaushal found it hard to switch back to the “Bambaiya” lingo he had used since childhood. The respect with which people in the pilgrim city spoke to each other had rubbed off on him. It was no longer the “tu-tadak” way of speaking. That role in Masaan stayed with him for the longest time.

That was Kaushal’s first lead role. He is vulnerable and endearing as Deepak, a guy from the Dom community, who wants to help his family dream of a better future, challenges the caste hierarchy and romances an upper-caste girl. His performance leaves an indelible mark.

Three years on and seven films later— five of which released in 2018—Kaushal’s charisma has hardly waned. He has essayed each of his characters with the same passion and sensitivity. Last year, he was a sincere boyfriend in Netflix’s original film Love Per Square Foot. In the anthology of short films, Lust Stories, he played a husband who is too naive to understand his wife’s sexual expectations. He played it with utmost sincerity. In Sanju, actor Sanjay Dutt's biopic, he stole the limelight as best friend Kamli. Raazi brought out the gentleman in him as Alia Bhatt’s sensitive and understanding Pakistani husband. And Anurag Kashyap’s Manmarziyaan saw him as an irresponsible boyfriend.