From simple honest young man caught in the tweezer grip of life in Masaan to a breakout star now, Vicky Kaushal’s journey is like a dream-come-true or more like hard-work-reap-results. The actor has already starred in two Netflix movies Love Per Square Foot and Lust Stories, worked in two blockbusters Raazi and Sanju this year and starred in romance drama Manmarziyaan. With five releases this year, the actor is not stopping anytime soon, and his zestful and talented personality makes him our prime persona of the week.
Although the introvert, shy and skinny guy; son of Sham Kaushal, the action director of films like Don, Dhoom3, Krrish, Gunday, and Quick Gun Murugun to name the few, Vicky never had a Bollywood upbringing one assumes he must have had. In fact, he was never encouraged to be a part of Bollywood from his family whatsoever and was thus doing his engineering just like any other middle-class family boys would do. But his film career took a turn when he decided to tear his job offer letter and step into films. He once shared that he gave an interview for an IT job just for the thrill of it because he wanted to experience the nervousness of wearing a tie and showing your resume.
‘My dad’s an action director and despite his hope that ‘Kaushal parivar ka chirag’ will get a 9-5 job with stability— I announced that I wanted to be an actor. But, I didn’t know struggle like my father had. He went into films to survive. When my mom married him – they lived in a small room, with a chattai and a chair. My father built everything from there. It wasn’t easy – he had to hunt for our next meal. So he made sure to let us know where each piece of furniture came from. That’s why when I told him I wanted to act – he asked me to be sure. Acting as a profession couldn’t be a ‘?’ for me. I needed to put 120% and not have a back up waiting. So I tore up that offer letter from the job and set out for auditions.’
The Hrithik Roshan fan furthered described his first audition as horrifying and a reality check as to how he is far away from what it takes to be an actor. But the Sanju star did not give up at one audition and went ahead with knocking many doors for that one chance. ‘There have also been times when I would get selected for a role, [but] at the last moment, would get replaced. It was disheartening and every time such things happened, the finishing line seemed too far,’ he reminisces. Soon he realized he wanted to learn the practicality and thus started theatre and evolved as an actor.
One of his latest Instagram pictures refurbished people’s faith in struggle and hard work. The throwback snap had him looking unrecognisable from his audition days. Sharing the picture, he captioned it as, ‘Once upon a time, when I would say ‘’Sir, am I fit for the audition?” even in my sleep. God has been kind in my journey so far. Also, I have grown an inch taller since then; don’t know if this is even possible after a certain age.’
Kaushal, the most wanted star on every director’s list is currently basking in his successes, and why should he not? In the age of nepotism and star-support, he outshines like a real superhero on the merits of acting, acting and just acting (oh yeas we mean good looks too). The star’s choices definitely do not depend on whether it is for Netflix or theatre or movies or which particular director is directing the film as long as the script and his role is compelling and challenges him, and the ladies’ man goes on with the flow. Which makes us want to include one more talent of this hunk- poetry, Vicky ones confessed that he had a break-up, years ago, a post which he had become like a ‘Devdas’ and which in turn made him a poet. (Rumours have it that he is currently dating anchor Harleen Sethi).
So, in his short span in the industry, we by-far know that he is a mix of the ideal young man who knows he is going to be a big shot but has also the art of not allowing success go to his head. He believes in putting his heart into his work because he wakes up each day to prove something — more to himself than to others.
On the work front, Vicky Kaushal will be next seen in Uri starring alongside Yami Gautam and will also be starring in Karan Johar‘s Takht, which is set in the Mughal era and will showcase the story of two warring brothers Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh. It will be based on the war between Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb reportedly played by Vicky Kaushal and elder brother Dara Shikoh reportedly played by Ranveer Singh.
