Vicky Kaushal is happy that he can finally perform the typical Bollywood ‘naach-gaana’ Govinda Name Mera. The actor known for his intense roles has delivered a real masala entertainer for the first time in his career. The actor has made a series of films in which his sincere acting and serious choice of stories and characters have won the hearts of audiences and critics alike.
In this interview with indianexpress.com, Vicky talks about how he ended up in Govinda Naam Mera, a movie he calls “fun brew” that showcases his love for dance. The actor also gives his two cents on how the game has changed at the box office since the Covid-19 pandemic and why he thinks it’s easy to figure out if a movie will do better at the box office.
Vicky calls Govinda Name Mera, a fun concoction, a movie he wants audiences to not take seriously and just laugh after all the pain and loss everyone went through during the pandemic. He says, “I’m so thankful I got into this concoction because I still remember Shashank talking about the movie for the first time, it was before the second phase of the movie.” COVID-19 pandemic. He said we live in such terrifying times where people are so scared and everything you watch (on OTT) is also so gritty and serious, let’s make people laugh, let’s try to give them a good time. I was initially sold on that idea.”
Vicky himself wanted a break from the kind of serious cinema he was doing until last year. “I also came out of serious cinema with Uri: The Surgical Strike, Bhoot and Sardar Udham. As an actor, even I was hungry to explore that side and have fun on set. I play a real loser in life, his wife beats him, he has a girlfriend; his mother or even his bay doesn’t care about him. He has a best friend and you think aisaa best friend kisiko na mile, dushman ho usse achha. There’s a don, there’s a hip-hopper, there’s a lawyer, sautela bhai, sauteli maa, there’s all kinds of confusion at the same time and there’s a murder mystery involved, all of this served with humor on top of it. We just want viewers to have a good time and not take us seriously,” says Vicky.
Most of Vicky’s recent releases have appeared on streaming platforms, including Govinda Naam Mera. When asked if he accepts that Bollywood is experiencing stress at the box office and what this phase means, Vicky says audiences have made it clear that they only want to see good movies in cinemas, regardless of genre or who the star is. or the language.
“I think good movies work. In fact, people have made it very simple. When you see the chart, they’ve made it so simple that if the movie appeals to them, regardless of language, genre, or scale, they’ll love it. The public has made it very simple, that humein picture ahhi lagni chaahiye. You see a Bhool Bhulaiya (2), KGF (2) or RRR, Drishyam (2), none of them fall into the same box, they are not the same language, genre or scale, they didn’t even have the same marketing plan. Even three years ago it was directly proportional, app jitni marketing karoge, utni aapki film chalegi, but it’s not like that anymore. If people like a movie, they just pick it up.”
“So I think we’re living in a time where they told us plainly and simply that we’re going to give it all our love,” Vicky points out.
While Vicky has only had one movie release this year, he’s pretty much looking forward to 2023 as he has four movie releases. “I am very excited because I was making movies all the time due to Covid there was three four movies of which Govinda is the first one then there is one with Lakshmain Utekar sir with me and Sara in it then there is a movie with YRF another one with Dharma who directed Anand Tiwari and then Sam Bahadur which I’m shooting now all these movies coming out in 23 I’m really excited to get these stories out and I’m very excited to know how people are going to react to these characters.”
2023 will be yet another deciding factor in Vicky’s trajectory, just as 2018 was, the year the actor was rediscovered. He says, “The last time I had such a year was 2018 when I had Love Per Square Foot, Raazi, Sanju, Lust Stories and Manmarziyaan, they all came in the same year. I get very excited if there are more films because you’ve been shooting back to back and playing different characters, so the thought that one day people are going to see this and I’ll pass the test of them liking or disliking it is very exciting.
