Exclusive: Vikrant Massey On Acting In Thrillers Giving Him Sleepless Nights, His Preparation For ‘Forensic’ And How Female Characters Are Written Today

Exclusive: Vikrant Massey On Acting In Thrillers Giving Him Sleepless Nights, His Preparation For ‘Forensic’ And How Female Characters Are Written Today

Vikrant Massey is one of the most versatile actors in the industry. From romantic comedies to gangster dramas, Massey has acted them in all. Lately, he has been serving thriller projects back-to-back and what we love is each film/series is very different from the previous. Vikrant Massey’s upcoming project, Forensic, is also a thriller and from the look at its trailer, this one has a dark plot. In a candid chat with us, Vikrant has shared his experience of working with Radhika Apte and Prachi Desai, how he prepared for his role in Forensic and also shared his thoughts on how female characters are written these days.

Q – Thrillers really seem to have caught your fancy with all your latest projects have been thrillers, including Haseen Dilruba, Love Hostel, Mumbaikar, and now the latest one Forensic. Is that your favourite genre?

Vikrant – I have only realized about this lately when people started asking me this thing. So, I definitely think maybe it is my favourite! And also because I really enjoy watching thrillers. I also enjoy reading thrillers. And I think a lot of people do like psychological thrillers or murder mysteries and even Haseen Dilruba was a whodunit or how done it rather. So, I think all of us like watching it because it kind of stimulates us.

 

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Q – I wanted to ask that your movie is based on the Malayalam original. So did you take any cues from Tovino Thomas’ character?

Vikrant – I saw that from the moment Forensic was offered to me. I totally loved it, but unfortunately, we actually refrained from sort of getting influenced by characters or certain things that were shown in the original. It is an adaptation. And when Vishal Furia, the director of the film came on board, he wanted to inculcate a couple of his own things, which he felt very strongly about. Once you see both the films, you will realize that the soul of our film remains intact with the original, with the Malayalam one, but there are quite a lot of changes. Of course, geographical changes are the first and foremost, and with that comes a lot of other changes which are concomitant with adaptations. So, we created our own character. In fact, an entirely new character, the mannerisms are very different. The personalities are very different.

Q – Your character in the film that’s been seen in the trailer is moonwalking around the crime scene, flaunting tattoos, and is a man of science like that. So, how much fun was it playing him, or did you have to pick any specific skills for the character?

Vikrant – Skills? Yes, definitely because, I was playing a forensic officer and it’s a very meticulous job. It is a very sophisticated, medically serious profession. And I had to justify their profession. And unfortunately, we really do not have enough reference points. Or rather no information in the world of cinema about forensic officers. This, in a lot of ways, is a first. So, the idea was to justify their profession, to go out there and entertain people at the same time. Also, you know, train me well enough to look like a forensic officer. I did spend enough time with real forensic officers to just understand the nature of their job, their body language and how they operate on a crime scene specifically. And it’s a very tedious job.

 

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Q- You’re working with Radhika Apte and Prachi Desai in this one. What was the experience like of working with them?

Vikrant – It was lovely. Unfortunately, I really did not have enough screen space with Prachi, But I did spend quite some time with her off the camera. And she’s a wonderful girl. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with her. Whereas working with Radhika was a delight. She’s one of the easiest actors to work with. We always wanted to work together. We just kept having hits and misses. So, finally, I’m glad it materialized into Forensic.

Q – When some of us watch horror films or crime thrillers, we get sleepless nights. There are things that really come into our dreams, literally speaking.  So as an actor has the premise of Forensic or for that matter, any other character you’ve played kept you up at night?

Vikrant – Yeah! It’s never the premise of the film that kind of disturbs you as much as the character preparation does. There are certain characters that really, really stay with you because you create their own backstories, and they haunt you sometimes. You probably reach a tipping point with regards to your characters and their vulnerability. So there, there are moments like that. It happened to me during A Death in the Gunj. It happened to me during Love Hostel. But not in Forensic.

 

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Q – Okay. These days it must, uh, these, this, uh, female characters are written in such a rich and complex manner. So, do you think that needs to change in the way male characters are written? In the sense, there’s a lot of depth that is given to female characters these days. They’re just not just arm candy. They’re a lot more than that.

Vikrant – No. I think it’s about time that women are given far more full-bodied characters and not treated as objects in a film which we’ve seen happen for far too long, or rather arm candies, as you said. It’s about time that women are represented in a very wholesome manner and they should also be given full-bodied characters. Like how men have been all this while.

Also read: Exclusive! Eisha Chopra: “Stories Written By Women Reflect Real Life And That Is The Real Change We Want”

Q – Coming to your wedding. It looked like a wholesome affair. It was lovely. The pictures, even. Congratulations on your wedding again. What was the favourite thing about your wedding apart from Sheetal, of course! How is marriage treating you both?

Vikrant – It’s been kind so far, really enjoying and I wish I had more time home. It’s a wonderful feeling. We always wanted to get married. And here we are, we are married the most beautiful part about our wedding was the families coming together rejoicing and celebrating together. Ghar ki shaadi thi, aur us cheez ki bohot zyada Khushi thi ki mere father-in-law ke ghar se humne shaadi ki.  Both the families were there. It was wonderful. It was more than what we wanted it to be, actually.

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Kinjal Panchal

Kinjal is an avid reader who drools over fictional men but is a hardcore realist. Don’t do anything to make her give you the ‘bombastic side eye’!

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