MUMBAI: After doing a series of ‘serious films’, Vicky Kaushal recently successfully dabbled in family entertainers like The Great Indian Family and Zara Hatke Zara Bachke.
In this interview, Vicky opens up about his family dynamics and shares how it’s his family he first goes to in any crisis. The actor also shares how his family dynamics changed after he tied the knot with Katrina Kaif.
Opening up about his core family values, Vicky shared, “My family values are pretty much like any other Indian household. We are all about being open about everything and not hiding anything. Be honest. Whatever it is, we’ll tackle it as a family. We are very basic when it comes to family. We are close-knit and caring. I know for a fact that I can talk about things that matter to me with my family. When I am outdoors for a shoot, and when they call, they’re saying the right things. But in five seconds, you realise that something is off, so I’m like, ‘Sab thik hai? Kuch hua hai? (Is everything ok? Has anything happened?)’ I am quite protective of my family and we are all quite connected.”
When asked if his family dynamics changed after marriage, Vicky Kaushal called wife Katrina Kaif “a beautiful addition”. He said, “It’s been a beautiful addition. We are a family of four – my mom, dad and brother Sunny. My parents always wanted a daughter and now they have a daughter. So now when they are talking to me on the phone, their first question always is, ‘How is Katrina?’ So yes, that shift has happened, but they are very happy. Everybody is happy. Touchwood, things are going really good.”
Vicky is a self-confessed fan of Katrina, who recently completed 20 years in Bollywood. Vicky calls her journey “inspirational” and reveals how she’s a “fighter” when it comes to work.
Talking about Katrina’s journey, Vicky said, “I think it is very inspirational. Now knowing her even more, it’s truly inspirational. Now I know her as a human and she’s a real fighter, especially when things are not working in her favour. She’s a go-getter. I learn a lot from her. My mindset is very different. I am more of a chiller. I am like, ‘Relax, ho jaayega,‘ but she is like a fighter. She goes for it; she attacks it. I have realised that the way she is and what she has achieved for herself, in the last 20 years, is incredible. From where she came and then just being here and adapting, it’s incredible. She definitely is a star.”
Vicky Kaushal himself has been in the industry for about ten years. He used to be an assistant director to Anurag Kashyap for Gangs of Wasseypur.
On how he’s evolved over the years, Vicky said, “I feel more confident in my own skin when it comes to talking about anything. I feel more confident placing my views on the table and I feel more sorted, less jittery. Earlier, because I didn’t feel I was experienced enough, not faced the camera enough, not interacted enough with a lot of people, I was less confident. But as opportunities kept coming, I started feeling that I have something to offer and that people do believe in me. All these things in entirety do give a lot of confidence. God has been really kind and my films have done well, and people have resonated with my performances. So now I feel more confident, which gives me a feeling of being content and makes me believe that I am in the right direction. I need to keep working hard and be honest. In the last ten years, I think I have grown a lot as an actor because of the comfort I feel in being Vicky Kaushal.”
While Vicky is one of the most sought-after actors in Bollywood today, he is aware that his generation of actors lack the star tag and he says he’s okay with it, even when he would have loved having a star tag.
He said, “Everybody would like the tag of being a star. Why is it not happening? Why don’t we have new stars? It’s because it is not the same world. Now we have the internet, social media. Earlier what used to happen is we had stars who were famous; now whoever is famous is a star. There is a very thin line between the two, but it is a big change. Today because of accessibility, the difference between being a genuine star and being famous — that line is blurring, and that’s why we get confused because everybody is famous. So who is a star today?”
Vicky added that because of social media, more actors are considered “one of us” by the audience. The actor said, “Now we don’t have that kind of stardom because everybody is so accessible. People can see us on the go with one click of the phone. The big stars today, they want us to peek into their lives. It wasn’t like that before. It used to be like if you want to see the star, you had to buy their movie ticket and watch them on the big screen. The only way you got to see them is on that huge screen in their larger-than-life image. So you always used to see them like that. Now there is more relatability, more of a feeling of ‘one of us’. So I guess with that kind of image, one can’t be a star. Today if someone is trending for ten days, then they are a star. It has happened to me also, but I don’t take it seriously. A hashtag trending doesn’t make you a star, and it is important to remember that.”
“Till the time your work talks about you, then there is a feeling that ‘Ok, we are in sync’. But if work is not talking for you, but you’re still in the news, then that’s not what I want to build for myself,” he concluded.
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Credits - The Indian Express
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