His first two films — Masaan and Raman Raghav 2.0 — might have been in the indie space, but Vicky Kaushal is ready to be a mainstream Bollywood hero. The first step in that direction is the Netflix romcom Love Per Square Foot. Directed by Anand Tiwari, the film premiered on Valentine’s Day to rave reviews. t2 spoke with the actor, who is currently shooting for Anurag Kashyap’s Manmarziyan in Punjab, about his first love story, working with directors like Karan Johar and Rajkumar Hirani and bulking up for his next.  

What’s it like to reunite with Anurag Kashyap after Raman Raghav 2.0?

My window into cinema has been through his eyes and so I’m familiar with his approach towards film-making, and especially so after working as an actor on Raman Raghav. It’s always like jumping into the unknown when you’re working with him and that’s when you discover something new about yourself.

Love Per Square Foot is your first love story. Are you a fan of this genre?

I am. I’m actually a fan of all genres, except horror — I get shit scared. I was watching Paranormal Activity alone at home on my desktop, and it was the scariest time of my life! And then at some point I saw (The) Conjuring, and I got so scared that I straightaway started watching Andaz Apna Apna to forget what I had just seen.

After intense films like Masaan and Raman Raghav 2.0, shooting Love Per Square Foot must have been a breeze!

It was a lot of fun. When I heard the narration from Anand, I was laughing throughout. I felt so connected to the characters and the situations in the film, and everything just worked for me. It was an instant ‘Yes’ from me within five minutes of hearing the narration. It was also a new space for me — romcoms were a territory I hadn’t explored before. 

The other thing that happened — Avinash Arun (the film’s cinematographer), Angira — all of us have had a very middle-class upbringing. So, it was picking out things from our past, from each other’s lives. It was living out your whole life again or even understanding your parents’ ideologies. 

Were there any particular parts of the film that you personally identified with?

The first thing was the spirit of Bombay. Anand had this one line about Sanjay Chaturvedi — ‘He plays life on the front foot’, and everything around Sanjay’s character revolved around that one line. No matter what the situation, he was never on the back foot. And that’s true of every person in Bombay, always reacting to situations head-on.

You have in the past spoken about the amount of preparation required for Raman Raghav 2.0 and Masaan. Was it easier playing the character in this film?

For every character, there is some amount of prep required. For Deepak in Masaan, it was important for me to familiarise myself with that world. In Raman Raghav, I had to connect to the emotional state of that person. For Love Per Square Foot, it wasn’t anything like that — I am a Bombay kid. It was more about understanding the aspirations of the character. Every character in a film has a need, and that’s how you tell a story. To understand his need, I’ll recount an incident Anand told me from his personal life when he lived in a chawl in Matunga, where every floor had a common bathroom and there was always someone outside knocking at the door. On shifting to his own house, the moment he used the bathroom and there wasn’t anyone outside knocking, he felt like the king of the world. That one feeling describes the need of the character — no matter how small the space, this space is mine.

This film wasn’t always intended to be an online release, but that’s how it ended up. How did you feel about it when you first heard about it, and has that feeling changed?

I’m an actor who got into cinema after watching people on the big screen. So, that’s always going to be my dream. But when I heard about it going to Netflix, the first thing I felt was honour. If you are the first film out of India going on to Netflix, you’re straightaway going to 190 countries. I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of messages, DMs (direct messages) and tweets I’ve got after this film — it’s way above anything I’ve got for any of my other films. I’m getting messages from Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Syria and it’s bizarre how all of this started happening within less than a day of it going live on Netflix. I’ve also realised that there are only two types of films that audiences go to theatres for, and this is just India that I’m talking about. The first is an “event” film like a Padmaavat and the other is the type that picks up because of word-of-mouth, Monday onwards. And it has to be great word-of-mouth — people will decide to go and watch only if they’ve heard at least 20 other people telling them good things about the film. The space that lies between the two is suffering a lot. Given the long work days and hectic lifestyles of people in India, it’s important for us to figure out which films an audience will come to watch at theatres, and which ones have to be delivered to the audience. Every change and new trend is questioned, and we’re in that phase but I think it’s a great start.

It’s been three years since Masaan. What have you learnt about what it takes to be in the business?

It’s very simple. The most important time in an actor’s life is between ‘Action’ and ‘Cut’. Whatever you do in that time has to be honest because that determines what you’re going to get after that. Of course, networking and meeting people is also required, but everything always comes down to those minutes. So, it’s important to treat every film like your debut film and give your 100 per cent with complete honesty and hard work.

There’s no place like a film set that gives me so much happiness. I just crave to be on one and I’m always content, no matter when or what I’m doing. And then three years post-Masaan, to be on a film set with Rajkumar Hirani or Meghna Gulzar or Karan Johar as the director. They are amazing at what they do but are also so modest and humble. They’re so totally into their work despite the body of work they possess. 

You have an interesting set of films coming up...

Yeah. I feel so blessed to get these opportunities. Raazi is coming out on May 11, with Meghna Gulzar directing it and it also has Alia Bhatt. It’s a 1971 period film where a Kashmiri girl gets married to a Pakistani army officer. Then there’s the Sanjay Dutt biopic, which is directed by Rajkumar Hirani. I still pinch myself — ‘Did I just go through that process where I was directed by Rajkumar Hirani?!’

You’re going to soon start working on Uri, based on the September 2016 Uri terror attacks. I heard you have to bulk up for the role...

I need to bulk up but not really a six- pack and all that — I might not even have to show my torso in the film. I’m playing a commando who has to lead a regiment of 80 army men who go for the kill. The director wants me to beef up and have the personality to lead a regiment of 80 people. It’s difficult for someone with my body type to beef up! (Laughs) I know people will hate me for saying this but I do lose weight really quickly. It’s going to be hard for me to bulk up.

Karishma Upadhyay