Vijay may be seen in the role of a pilot in the Netflix series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’, but before ‘Gully Boy’, it was very challenging for him to decide the direction of his career.
Vijay started his career with the 2012 film ‘Chittagong’ and was seen in many films like ‘Monsoon Shootout’, ‘Pink’ and ‘Raag Desh’. But before being seen in ‘Gully Boy’, India’s official entry for Oscar, he was struggling a lot.
In 2019, Vijay played the role of Moeen in Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt starrer ‘Gully Boy’, which gave him the most exposure. Vijay has told that before getting Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Gully Boy’, he was an actor who did not have any film offers and he was very hungry to make his mark.
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Vijay was finalized for ‘Sacred Games’
In an interview with Indian Express, Vijay said, “I didn’t have any offers till just before ‘Gully Boy’. The casting directors had faith in me but for a long time I was not given opportunities.
Vijay told that he had given many auditions in the hope of getting the role. But it was not very easy as he was finalized for projects many times and then suddenly rejected, like from Anurag Kashyap’s web series ‘Sacred Games’.
Vijay said, ‘In some auditions, I was in the waiting list, in the top five, in the top two and then I was finalized and dropped! I was finalized for ‘Sacred Games’, I even gave the measurements of my costume and then I was dropped. Such things used to happen, but somewhere inside me, faith remained. After ‘Gully Boy’, I started getting work, but I think my hunger for work had increased so much that after this film, I took a lot of offers.
Offers started coming only for negative roles
Vijay said that after ‘Gully Boy’ he felt that whatever opportunities he is getting, he should not leave them. But the industry started fitting him in the slot of negative roles. In Alia Bhatt starrer ‘Darlings’, he was seen in the role of a heartless husband, while in Sonakshi Sinha’s ‘Dahad’ he was seen in the role of a serial killer.
‘When ‘Darlings’ happened, I was not able to imagine myself in this role and then I got many such roles in which I was playing the role of horrible, scary and dangerous men. There was a part of me that wanted to break this stereotype but I probably couldn’t do it on my own. I got a lot of support from filmmakers, who said that they saw me in this way and wanted to offer me something new.
Vijay said that this is how Sujoy had given him ‘life’ and in this he showed him in a new style. Similarly, Homi Adajania gave him a role in ‘Murder Mubarak’ and Anubhav Sinha gave him a role in ‘IC 814’.
Vijay said, ‘If someone has only seen ‘Darlings’ and ‘Dahaad’ then he will never think that I can make him do a very good character. The industry works in a very mysterious way, when they see potential in you, they also give you a chance to show your other side. I didn’t break any stereotype, because I didn’t create any. He is the one who made it, he is the one who broke it.
These days Vijay is seen in Netflix’s web series ‘IC 814’. Vijay played the role of a pilot in this show based on the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in December 1999. His work in the show is also being praised a lot.