Vicky Kaushal on the thrill and terror of stepping onto a Sanjay Leela Bhansali set, charting an unconventional career, and making sense of the money game.
Vicky on working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his upcoming movie Love and War:
“I’ve just been observing Sanjay sir and oh my god. He’s absolutely zoned in. He’s got his blinkers on. For him, every scene is for life. It’s immortal. In a frame, he’s not just looking at my performance, he’s looking at the shaft where the light is coming from, the manner in which the curtain is swaying, the direction in which the background is moving. I’m spell-bound watching him. He’s never out of character. There’s no moment when he’s not thinking about a scene or the next one. You can’t just randomly talk about unrelated things when he’s tuned in. But if it’s a creative conversation, he’s always fully engaging with you.”
On being truthful with people on why he doesn’t want to do their film he says:
“This industry is a very small family and you’re bound to cross paths with them again. I also feel that if I make up excuses to not do the film when I’ve actually not connected with the script, I’d be caught. So I’m very, very honest about what’s not working for me. In fact, the meetings where I’ve refused a part last longer than the ones I’ve agreed to.”
Kaushal on the cultural fixation of box-office numbers reducing the conversation around the film’s merit:
“I think that’d be an easy out for me to [agree with]. The reality of the world is that everything today is quantified. From your heart rate to your sleep quality to the star rating of a restaurant you want to eat at—numbers have become a measure of quality in all aspects of our life. So it’s a very unreal expectation that the films are going to be the only art form that will stay pure and free from quantification. In the ’90s, it was the number of weeks the film ran in the theatres, then it became days, then it came to the `100-crore club, then the opening weekend, then the opening day and now we’re down to advance tickets sales.”
Shraddha Kapoor as The Boss
Outstanding Achievement
Shraddha Kapoor has helped deliver the highest-earning Hindi film of 2024.
Shraddha Kapoor on the intense pressure she’s feeling about her choices after Stree 2’s success:
“One hundred percent and I’ve been mulling over it. I decided to look at it from a broader perspective. Success like this isn’t just my own to claim—it’s good news for the industry overall. Because it tells you something we all desperately want to hear: that there’s a chance that people will come to theatres. And that really drives you to do work that brings people in. It validates your choices.”
On facing anxiety about her future earlier in her career, Kapoor says:
“I never expected Teen Patti to fail the way it did. It broke my heart. The period after that and before I got Aashiqui was very, very hard. Despite being from the industry, my father wasn’t making any calls to get me work. He was always a strong advocate of individualism. He said, ‘I made it on my own, you have to do it too. Face your battles. Don’t rely on me.’ This made me experience rejection and failure on a very personal level. Until Aashiqui happened, it was very difficult to convince people to cast me.”
Kartik Aaryan as The Challenger
Leading Man
Kartik Aaryan on why, in an industry that only watches out for their own, he has to blow his own trumpet.
Kartik Aaryan on avoiding a release clash with Rohit Shetty’s cop drama Singham Again:
“We planned it as a Diwali entertainer much before they did. We genuinely requested them to push it. But they had their own internal issues and couldn’t. Unfortunately then, both films were released on the same day. We were up against a huge, giant multi-starrer, and nobody—not even those of us who worked on the film—expected it to do this well,”
On how he perceives his reaction in the Bollywood industry, Aaryan says:
“I’m a lone warrior. This house that you see today—I bought it with my own money. I’ve fought like crazy to reach here. And it’s not done yet—I know for a fact that I won’t get any industry support for the road Ahead. And I’ve come to terms with the fact that despite delivering a monster hit in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, nobody will rally behind me. I still have to hustle for my next film.”
Varun Dhawan as The Rockstar
Entertainer of the Year
Varun Dhawan on balancing fatherhood and film shoots, and the pressure of making the right choices.
Varun Dhawan on becoming a father and feeling guilt for being away due to work:
“It changes you overnight. There’s this strong protective instinct that has taken over me. And Natasha—I mean, she’s my superhero. There’s a lot of guilt. I feel that every day. I feel that when I work. I feel like I’m not there. I’ll take a few days off in December and spend time with her, but that’s probably not enough. And it’s not just about Lara, I want to spend time with Natasha too. But as soon as I wrap these two films, Border 2 will begin.”
On progressive ideals and mainstream cinema being inherently incompatible and doing his best within the parameters of commercial cinema, Dhawan says:
“I aim to find a balance. For instance, Baby John is as pan-India and massy as a film can get. But it has a strong message for our judicial system and about the safety of women. I’m not making movies to change the world. I do it to entertain. And in that process, if change happens, great. But that’s not the main drive. If I had to change the world, I’d become a politician.”
Dhawan on if the Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal was offered to him:
“I don’t know man. I’m not the guy who lets cinema influence his moral compass. But I don’t know how I would have reacted back then if it had come my way. I’d have given it more thought maybe. Sandeep thinks differently. He’s a guy I definitely would want to work with.”
Rajkummar Rao as The Mastermind
Actor of the Year
Following the monster success of Stree 2, Rajkummar Rao opens up about navigating artistic fulfilment and box-office glory.
Rajkummar Rao on only doing moderate budget films:
“I’m still being very, very careful with what I choose—being realistic. I don’t want to take the entire pressure of a film on my shoulders. Unless there’s a big director involved, I don’t want to do films that are budgeted beyond what they can potentially recover. Unless the director also takes the added responsibility and it’s the two of us. Which is why I’m only doing moderate-budget films, so that at least nobody loses money.”
Rao on not understanding the controversy surrounding Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal:
“I think as an audience we need to be smarter. I mean, the film is called Animal—it doesn’t pretend to be the story of an idealist. Neither was the director going for that. One of its songs has a line that roughly translates to ‘nobody is worse than me’. It’s a fictional story about a flawed guy who deeply loves his father. Why aspire to be him? He’s obviously not supposed to be liked.”