Vikrant Massey: People Having Pre Conceived Notions About Me Being A TV Actor Demoralised Me

From Television to films and later web, Vikrant Massey, in his own way has become one of the masters of unconventional cinema. Be it Balika Vadhu, Qubool Hai or his fabulous performance in A Death in the Gunj, Dil Dhadakne Do, or be it Made in Heaven or Broken But Beautiful, Massey has completely blown everyone over with his restrained charm and the ability to get into the skin of the character. Most recently, he wrapped up Chhapaak, a film where he plays the leading man oppositeDeepika Padukone. The project has been helmed by none other than Meghna Gulzar.

In an exclusive chat with PINKVILLA, Vikrant opened up on his struggles to become an actor, how films were never in the plan, facing stereotype for being a television actor earlier and of course, collaborating with Deepika Padukone for Chhapaak. Ask him if during his journey, he ever had a fear of failing, Vikrant said, "I really don't think that anybody can pursue their aspirations or targets keeping failures in mind. When I was working with Shamaik Dawar in his institute, I never thought I would become a Televsiion actor then, I did TV for almost a decade and films were also not planned. In fact, Lootera was my first ever film audition, before that I never tested for a film."

But did he always want to be an actor? "Yes, I wanted to be an actor, I always wanted to be an actor. When films happened, I signed Lootera because I really wanted to work with Vikram Aditya Motwane, I had seen Udaan and then one project led to another, When I was doing Lootera, I never thought I would play a leading man in a film, that was never in my mind. It just happened. The only thing today I can say is it [the career] is a mix of good choices, good collaborations, decent performances, most importantly people who have enjoyed my work," he exclaimed.

Balika Vadhu on TV, Lootera in films and Mirzapur in web, have been defining points in his career. How different was the transition from one medium to another? "Adaptability is very important. With me, because I did Television, you cater to people for 22-25 minutes a day, films I found to be comparatively more relaxed. People have this pre conceived notions that oh, he is a Television actor from Lokhandwala, he will come with his hair gelled, tight T-shirt, that is something which really demoralised me. I wanted to prove these people wrong because that was not the case," he added.

He continued, "People today ask me, 'how did you make it to films after doing Television' and I always say that it is not just me or Shah Rukh Khan, we have had Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, some of the greatest artists we have had who have very successfully worked on all the platforms."

(source: pinkvilla.com)