When I shot my first film, Lootera, here, my daily routine would involve going to Balaram (Mullick & Radharaman Mullick) and have their Baked Rosogolla.” That is how actor Vikrant Massey immediately won over the crowd that had gathered to hear him speak at a session titled ‘Rise to Resilience’, organised by the Young Leaders Forum Kolkata recently.

Vikrant, now experiencing a purple patch in his career, has been a shining example of resilience and hard work, much like his character Manoj Kumar Sharma in 12th Fail, the 2023 film that has won him high praise and a number of awards. Sitting in the audience at Hyatt Centric Kolkata, t2 took notes from the session. Excerpts from Vikrant-speak.

Calcutta connection

After Lootera (2013), I haven’t had the opportunity to spend time in Calcutta. Coming to Calcutta during Durga Puja is a fond memory. I am a huge Dada (Sourav Ganguly) fan. Watching him change the face of Indian cricket was a personal achievement for all of us.

Struggle & success

I started working at 17, when most of my friends were busy with college and girlfriends. But that was the need of the hour. I come from a regular middle-class family. I didn’t want to be a burden on the family, I wanted to earn enough to pay for my college fees.

One job led to another. I am fortunate because I never had to do something which I did not want to do. There are people who perhaps once wanted to be musicians but are now stuck in a corporate job. My passion was always acting and I am lucky to be able to do that.

Initially, I worked in a coffee shop and then got an opportunity with (star choreographer) Shiamak Davar. That was almost like a branch of Indian cinema because everyone knows him. I was lucky that I was around the right people at the right time. At 16, I got my first TV show and I realised that I would rather go on the (shooting) floor and gain the experiences which I will not get otherwise.

I would definitely miss meeting my friends, playing cricket with them. But life has better plans. My mother always says: ‘How do you know that your plans are better than His plans?’ You never know. And I abide by that.

Taking the leap from small screen to big

Movies were always an aspiration; I wanted to see myself on the big screen and work with certain directors and I was lucky that I got to work with most of them within the first few years of my career.

I quit TV because I felt under-utilised. My parents wanted to see me settled, which meant, like it is generally, to buy a house and get married. I was too young to get married but I bought my first house when I was 24 and I felt very relieved. I told my mother: ‘Now you do not need to worry about me sleeping on the streets because I have a place to come back to.’ And that is when I told them that I would pursue what I really wanted, which is films.

My parents were dumbfounded because I was doing well in TV. They didn’t understand why I wanted to give it all up and start again. But I always had a 10-year plan. That if I was able to achieve what I wanted in 10 years, I would make the switch to films. Even films was a 10-year plan. I said if I want to do something in films, I have to do it within 10 years. And I am glad I had that journey.

Perception & priority

If financial security was the only thing that mattered to me, I would have not made the switch. But it is also important to live a comfortable life. Unfortunately, our society respects you for the shoes you are wearing, for the kind of clothes you wear. But you shouldn’t pay so much attention to this. There is something called internal peace which is equally important. So one has to find a sweet spot somewhere in between.

Money vs opportunity

I have done some below-par work because of money because that was the need of the hour. Sometimes it is money, sometimes it is the person who offers you the role. Sometimes there are producers and directors who you want to work with and they reach out to you and you know you might not get an opportunity to work with them again. So you are hopeful that a mediocre script can turn out to be better because of the talent he or she possesses.

The need of the hour is more important. If your intentions are clear, then somewhere, your path will be made. If today, somebody offers me a lot of money and the project demands only two-three months of my time, I will do it. I will make the money, buy a house, travel the world. One has to be pragmatic in life.

#Restart

12th Fail has, undoubtedly, been the turning point in my career. But initially, most people we shared the story of the film with, asked us point-blank why we were making it. They asked: ‘This is the story of every household in India. Who will watch it?!’ We said that is exactly why we should make this film, because it is the story of every household.

The film talks about the concept of ‘restart’. One cannot define success as a standalone concept. You are successful only if you have earlier failed in life. For actors, especially, successes are very few. It is the failures that shape us and our craft. I was reading Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life by Morgan Housel. It says that most inventions, even 500 years ago, were created in extreme stress and duress. When life is great, nobody works to create something new.

Not all my films have worked. But I have been resilient. We are all waiting for that right opportunity, that one right moment. Almost all of us lead mundane lives every day, until that one special day happens. That one special day happens only once in a while. The resilience that you are waking up with and going out and knocking on the same door day in day out is for that magic to happen. That magic happens after thousands of days of hard work.

12th Fail: an India story

A lot of people saw themselves and their loved ones in the story and characters of 12th Fail. It is a very India story. I grew a beard, got a haircut and lost 8kg because I really wanted to be a part of the film. There was a plan to use de-ageing technology in some parts, because at 34, I was playing a 19-year-old (Manoj Kumar Sharma). At the cost of sounding a little boastful, they didn’t have to use it... I made sure I looked like I was 19.

Through this film, we have tried to say larger things... like dignity, the freedom to speak about the right things. It says that the third division of honesty makes you happier than the first division of dishonesty.

Easing into parts effortlessly

I read somewhere that Rolls-Royce sells you status, Amazon sells you convenience, Disney sells you dreams... I want to sell emotions that the audience resonates with. When I am gone, I want people to say: ‘He sold emotions that represented human nature.’ That is what I try to do. Sometimes I land, sometimes I don’t. But the attempt is ongoing.

Honestly, I also want to do the conventional Bollywood stuff. I want to kill four people with one kick, I want to romance heroines. But nobody offers me those films. So I would rather stick to what I am being offered, be kind to the ones who are giving me work.

Shaking off stereotypes

I don’t want the audience to slot me. When I started out, my biggest worry was: ‘Yaar, main hero ke dost mein slot ho raha hoon.’ And the ‘TV slot’ also hung around for a long time. Now I try to ensure that I don’t give anyone an opportunity to categorise me.

But that insecurity is still there. Eighty per cent of the time, when casting, if a guy is from UP or Bihar and is a little thin and they need a good actor who is also a guy next door, then they will think of me. With films like Sector 36 (in which he plays a serial killer), and a few others releasing next year, I want to break that mould.

Audience is king

We need to make content that brings audiences into theatres. We are trying to make good films which have a certain archival value, which is worth the audience’s time and money. We recognise that the audience cannot be manipulated. The writers, the filmmakers, the fraternity as a whole, irrespective of the medium, want to be worth your time.

Vikrant’s legacy

I want to be remembered as someone who tried. Someone who tried to represent the common man, to represent the times he lived in, who tried to be the voice of the voiceless, who tried to entertain, who tried to stand up to the powerful, who tried to have a certain sense of an archival value, who tried to be worth the viewer’s time and money. That is what I would want people to recognise me as. Nothing more.