Vijay Verma admits during the last couple of years he has arrived at a new level of recognition. “It was actually a very slow, long and gradual process until it came to a moment where the work that I had done started to reflect in success. I had met a lot of failures early on in starters and non starters titles, projects not releasing, not getting made, not finding success and not finding the audiences. I went through this trajectory and finally found an audience in, and eventually the work that I did in the last 2-3 years found a lot of audience and I think that results in success. I don’t know how it happened, but I just know that I kept my head down and I kept working and kept choosing the right kind of stories that resonated with me and the makers that I aspire to work with, which is pretty much the same process that I am following even now. It has been quite a journey.”
About his association with Mirzapur Vijay recalls, “Back in February of 2019, my film Gully Boy released and within the same week, I got approached by Excel and the director, Gurmeet. They offered me the double role, the twin brothers, in Mirzapur season 2 and I was already a fan of season 1. I had seen it and I had seen what kind of fandom the show had. It was a very easy choice for me and it was my first double role and at the same time, I got to be part of this incredible ensemble and a very successful franchise.”
Vijay reminisces about the highpoints of his career. “If I look at big highlight moments, I think Monsoon Shootout, my first film, playing at Cannes in 2013, was a big moment for me. This is the first film I had signed, and Chittagong was the first film I shot. Then, I think the next big highlight was probably Ray of Hope, because I was completely out of a job and didn’t have any money, nothing, my career was nowhere and I did a small part, but it kind of resurfaced a little bit, for some people, at least. It kind of brought me back and gave me hope more than anything that I can also do something. Then Gully Boy was also a big highlight which changed a lot of things for me. The success of Gully Boy and the appreciation that the film and I received was the first that I had in this capacity, and that was the first time I felt, ‘how would the rest of the people have felt when they would have got success’, because I hadn’t got it till then and, how many wounds could have been healed by a success,. After Gully Boy, pretty much everything has been smooth sailing. But I think Mirzapur is also a highlight, because it was the first time I saw a show generating crazy reactions from the audience. This was one of the early shows and it is actually one of the reasons why people started binge-watching Indian series. It’s one of those pioneers. I saw a drastic increase in the fan-following, and social media, and several other things. I think Darlings and Dahaad were highlights, because it’s again a killer movie and a show, and I got immense love and appreciation. Jaane Jaan definitely is one of the highlights and now we are looking at Mirzapur Season 3.”
Vijay sheds light on his character in Mirzapur. “This is Mirzapur’s third instalment, so it’s the same character I portrayed the last time. I actually played two characters in season two and at the end of it we find out that there was a massive shootout and both are down on the floor and one of them has a fatal wound on the head. So one of them is probably dead and the other one is alive, but we don’t know which one is dead. Bade Tyagi AKA Bharat Tyagi or Chhote Tyagi AKA Shatrughan Tyagi. We left it at that. So we start the season and it’s a bleak environment for the Tyagi family and there’s grief and a deep sense of revenge. In the previous season I have to say, I had multiple personality disorder, in this season I felt like I had a split personality issue because it’s just so conflicted, this character, there’s a lot of internal conflict and there’s a lot of hiding and secrecy, Along with them, there is a lot of deep-seated revenge and at the same time longing. So it’s a very conflicted and atoned path that I have walked on for this season. But yeah, it is all coming from the space of a jilted lover,revenge energy. Some of the most simple and most professional, talented bunch of actors are in the show.
I admired their work and I got a chance to work with them and working with them was easy and enlightening. I entered the Mirzapur franchise in season 2 by then the characters were already established. And I also became a part of the show in a very seamless manner, the story was smooth and free flowing when I was introduced. All of them are such wonderful actors who cheer, motivate and support each other. They celebrate each other’s success and it’s like a big family . I had the pleasure of working with Pankaj Sir in Mirzapur and in Murder Mubarak. He is a simple and learned man and working with him was fun and sitting and talking to him is 2X fun. I feel good to be around him. There’s Ali, Divyendu, Shweta, Rasika and all of them are actors who have achieved a lot and created their own benchmarks. They have managed to mark a niche for themselves. But the biggest character of this show is the fans, the fandom and all of us keep this love and admiration very close to our hearts. Because it doesn’t happen that people wait for so long for us to come and tell stories, keeping that in mind, we keep the same level of energy and motivation on the set and work on it for them.I entered Mirzapur in the second season and the whole cast of the show was already established by that time.
The whole cast of Mirzapur was fitted so well with the roles that people, on streets, knew them by the role they played in Mirzapur. If I am outside, then this perspective of who is the bigger talent can be applied but when are in the show and it’s like a big family who is famous, more accomplished doesn’t come in between. Even if we talk about accomplishment, then all the cast have left a strong mark on their characters and very few actors are fortunate to achieve this. Today, Ali is known as Guddu Bhaiya, the entire media, paparazzi, street boys, everybody knows him by the name of the role he played in Mirzapur. Divyendu as Munna Bhaiya, Pankaj sir as Kaleen bhaiya, Rasika as Beena ji, to win hearts of millions of people by the characters is a very big accomplishment and I also want make such impact on people that my characters imprints their hearts and minds and make your role as unforgettable.”
Vijay agrees the OTT has given his career a fresh impetus. “It did give me a fresh platform, pair of eyes and audiences. It also took away the pressure of the box office and the numbers and the number game. So, therefore, the level playing field energy that OTT has was quite refreshing. I remember when we were trying to figure out the release date of Monsoon Shootout and near to its launch in theaters, a small ad of the movie came in Times of India beside an ad of a very big film. The producer of Monsoon Shootout worked very hard to buy that small ad. So, that hierarchy of what is big and small is fluid now because of OTT platforms. If you go to the home screen of such platforms, you can see your film next to any international film, in the same row irrespective of how big or small budgeted the movie is. So, the kind of a democracy that OTT has brought resulted in a lot of corrections which I have benefited from. I stayed away from typical films or I did not have any visible contribution there, so the kind of cinema I like is very similar to the genres available on OTT. Until and unless you don’t have an audience who see your work, your professional portfolio is somewhere static, OTT has given me audiences who have thankfully admired my work and pushed me to do better.I am now shooting with Nagraj Manjule Sir, Matka King, it’s an Amazon original series. I have done a miniseries with Anubhav Sinha, IC814, it is also getting ready for release, so that is going to be the next thing after Mirzapur. I have done a film with Manish Malhotra’s production, Ul Jalul Ishq, with Naseer Sir and Fatima. That has also been shot, so that is also in post-production.”