Vicky Kaushal

Vicky Kaushal
Kaushal at an event for MAMI in 2017
Born (1988-05-16) 16 May 1988
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Education Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology
Occupation Actor
Years active 2012–present

Vicky Kaushal (born 16 May 1988) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. Born to the action director Sham Kaushal, he pursued an engineering degree from the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology. Aspiring to a career in film, Kaushal assisted Anurag Kashyap in the crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and went on to play minor roles in two of Kashyap's productions. His first leading role was in the independent drama Masaan (2015), which earned him the IIFA and Screen Awards for Best Male Debut.

Following the leading role of an unhinged cop in Kashyap's psychological thriller Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), Kaushal rose to prominence in 2018 with supporting roles in Raazi and Sanju, two of the highest-grossing Hindi films of the year. He also starred in the Netflix films Love per Square Foot and Lust Stories.

Life and career

Early life and work (1988–2016)

Kaushal was born on 16 May 1988 in a chawl in suburban Mumbai to Sham Kaushal, a stuntman and subsequent action director in Hindi films.[1][2][3] His younger brother, Sunny, is also an actor.[4] His family is Punjabi.[5] Kaushal has described himself as a "regular kid who was interested in studying, playing cricket and watching movies".[2] His father was keen on his son having a stable career and Kaushal thus pursued an engineering degree in electronics and telecommunications from Mumbai's Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology.[6] During an industrial visit to an IT company, he realised that an office job would be unsuitable for him and he began aspiring to a career in film. He briefly took on an engineering job and began accompanying his father on film sets.[2][6] He studied acting at Kishore Namit Kapoor's academy and worked as an assistant director to Anurag Kashyap in the two-part crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur (2012).[6][7] Kaushal has described fond memories of working with Kashyap, whom he considers as his mentor.[8] He also began working on stage and had his first acting job in Manav Kaul's production of Laal Pencil.[6] In film, Kaushal played minor roles in Kashyap’s productions Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana (2012) and Bombay Velvet (2015), and the experimental short film Geek Out (2013).[6][9]

Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi, his co-star in Masaan (2015)

Kaushal played his first leading role in the independent drama Masaan (2015) directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. Kaushal and Ghaywan were both assistants on Gangs of Wasseypur, and he was cast in the film after Rajkummar Rao backed out.[10] To play a young man from a low socio-economic class yearning for a better life, Kaushal spent time in Benaras, where the film is set, and observed the mannerisms of local men.[11] The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard segment at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won two awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize.[12] Masaan earned critical acclaim and The New York Times considered it to be a leading example of increased realism in Indian cinema.[13][14] Nikhil Taneja of HuffPost termed Kaushal's performance “poignant and memorable” and Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote that "he effortlessly conveys both the inferiority complex and the attitude of breaking through the caste cauldron".[15][16] His performance won him the IIFA and Screen Awards for Best Male Debut, and a nomination for the Asian Film Award for Best Newcomer, among other accolades.[17][18][19]

The 2015 Busan International Film Festival marked the release of the drama Zubaan, which Kaushal had filmed before Masaan.[5] His role was that of a grieving man who starts stammering after the death of his father. He worked with a speech therapist to learn stammering patterns and spent time with some of the doctor's patients. After completing work on the film, Kaushal found it difficult to distance from the character and began to stammer in real life.[11] His performance led Justin Chang of Variety to label him as a "charismatic, naturally engaging talent".[20] In Kashyap's psychological thriller Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), Kaushal played a drug-addicted police officer in pursuit of the serial killer Raman Raghav (portrayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui).[5] The troubled and unbalanced character had little in common with Kaushal's own personality, and to convince Kashyap to cast him, he lived in isolation for five days and kept repeating lines from the script.[8] Writing for Rediff.com, Aseem Chhabra found his performance "brave" and added, “If there is one big surprise in Raman Raghav 2.0, it is Vicky Kaushal’s star-making performance."[21] Both Zubaan and Raman Raghav 2.0 failed to find a wide audience at the box office.[22]

Breakthrough (2018 onward)

Kaushal at a promotional event for Raazi in 2018

Forbes India featured Kaushal in their 30 Under 30 list of 2018, and he achieved his breakthrough that year.[23][24] He was first seen as the male lead of the romantic comedy Love per Square Foot, India's first Netflix original film.[25] Shweta Ramakrishan of Firstpost considered the chemistry between Kaushal and his co-star Angira Dhar to be the film's highlight.[26] He next featured in Meghna Gulzar’s spy thriller Raazi (2018), based on Harinder Sikka’s novel Calling Sehmat. Set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the film tells the real-life story of a young Indian girl from Kashmir (played by Alia Bhatt) who gets married to a Pakistani army officer (Kaushal) to spy for Indian intelligence. He was drawn to the humanity he found in the story and worked towards conveying both vulnerability and authoritative strength in his character.[27] The film emerged as one of the highest-grossing Hindi films featuring a female protagonist and Meena Iyer of Daily News and Analysis commended Kaushal for being “the correct foil” to Bhatt’s character.[28][29] His second Netflix production of the year was the anthology film Lust Stories. It consists of four short films dealing with female sexuality; Kaushal was seen in Karan Johar’s segment as a newly married man who fails to recognise his wife’s (played by Kiara Advani) sexual dissatisfaction.[30]

Kaushal’s most commercially successful release of 2018 came with Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju, a biopic of the troubled actor Sanjay Dutt, who was portrayed by Ranbir Kapoor in the film. Kaushal played his best friend Kamli, a fictionalised amalgamation of various real-life friends of Dutt.[31] In preparation, he spent time with Paresh Ghelani, who served as the primary inspiration for the role.[31] Rachit Gupta from The Times of India considered Kaushal's work to be “one of the finest performances in the film” and Samrudhi Ghosh of India Today wrote that he “holds his own against Ranbir’s superlative performance, and shines in the funny as well as emotional scenes”.[32][33] Both Raazi and Sanju proved to be among the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2018, and with earnings of over ₹5.79 billion (US$81 million), the latter ranks among Indian cinema's biggest grossers.[34][35] In his final release of the year, Kaushal reunited with Kashyap for Manmarziyaan, a love triangle set in Punjab and co-starring Abhishek Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu.[36] Anupama Chopra took note of how well he used silences to convey his character's pain and desire.[37]

Upcoming projects

As of September 2018, Kaushal has filmed in Siberia for Uri, an action thriller based on the 2016 Uri attack, co-starring Yami Gautam. He injured his arm while filming an action sequence in it.[38] Kaushal has also committed to feature in Takht, a historical drama directed by Karan Johar, which features an ensemble cast, including Ranveer Singh and Kareena Kapoor.[39]

Filmography

Key
Films that have not yet been released Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Film Role Notes
2012 Gangs of Wasseypur — Assistant director
2012 Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana Young Omi
2013 Geek Out Geek Short film
2015 Bombay Velvet Inspector Basil
2015 Masaan Deepak
2015 Zubaan Dilsher
2016 Raman Raghav 2.0 Raghav Singh
2018 Love per Square Foot Sanjay
2018 Raazi Iqbal Syed
2018 Lust Stories Paras Karan Johar's segment
2018 Sanju Kamlesh "Kamli" Kanhaiyalal Kapasi
2018 Manmarziyaan Vicky Sandhu Also playback singer for song "F For Fyaar"[40]
2019 Uri Film has yet to be released TBA Post-production

Awards and nominations

Year Film Award Category Result Ref.
2016 Masaan Zee Cine Award Best Male Debut Won [41]
Screen Awards Best Male Debut Won [17]
International Indian Film Academy Awards Star Debut of the Year – Male Won [18]
Asian Film Awards Best Newcomer Nominated [19]
Stardust Awards Best Acting Debut (Male) Nominated [42]
2018 Sanju Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Best Supporting Performance Won [43]

References

  1. ↑ Singh, Deepali (16 May 2018). "'Raazi has made my b'day special', says birthday boy Vicky Kaushal". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Khuranaa, Amann (28 January 2017). "'Raman Raghav 2.0' actor Vicky Kaushal: I was born in a 10x10 chawl". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Roy, Priyanka (23 May 2018). "'Women are more in love with Iqbal than with Vicky!' — Vicky Kaushal has hit the big league with Raazi". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "Vicky advised me not to be pretentious in Bollywood: Sunny Kaushal". The Indian Express. 13 August 2016. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Gupta, Nidhi (2 March 2016). "Vicky Kaushal, the poster boy of Indian cinema's 'new wave'". GQ. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Chatterjee, Suprateek (3 March 2016). "Interview: Vicky Kaushal On 'Zubaan' And His Journey As An Actor". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  7. ↑ Chatterjee, Arundhati (25 June 2016). "Vicky Kaushal: From being an engineer to becoming an actor". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  8. 1 2 N, Patcy (16 May 2016). "'I badly want to do an action film'". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Nayar Singh, Anjuri (10 August 2016). "Anurag is my family, my guardian in the industry, says Vicky Kaushal". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  10. ↑ Jha, Subhash K. (24 December 2015). "I got the role in 'Masaan' because Rajkummar Rao didn't have dates: Vicky Kaushal". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  11. 1 2 Paul, Ushonita (14 April 2016). "A candid chat with the tall, dark and no-nonsense Vicky Kaushal". Filmfare. Archived from the original on 17 April 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "'Masaan' wins two top awards at Cannes". Mint. 24 May 2015. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "Critically acclaimed 'Masaan' sees a limited release". Mint. 24 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  14. ↑ Sharma, Vaibhav (20 September 2015). "'Masaan' and Other Indian Films Steer Away From Bollywood Escapism". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  15. ↑ Taneja, Nikhil (25 July 2015). "Masaan Review: A Fine Film Packed With Fantastic Performances". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  16. ↑ Kumar, Anuj (24 July 2015). "Masaan: Mapping the moral morass". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 December 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  17. 1 2 Ghosh, Raya (11 January 2016). "Screen Awards 2016: Complete List of Winners". NDTV. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  18. 1 2 "IIFA 2016: Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh win top laurels". The Indian Express. 26 June 2016. Archived from the original on 26 June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  19. 1 2 "'Bajirao Mastani', 'Masaan', 'Bombay Velvet', and 'Baahubali' nominated at 10th Asian Film Awards". Firstpost. 5 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  20. ↑ Chang, Justin (1 October 2015). "Busan Film Review: 'Zubaan'". Variety. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  21. ↑ Chhabra, Aseem (24 June 2016). "Review: Raman Raghav 2.0: A difficult watch". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  22. ↑ "Vicky Kaushal". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  23. ↑ Purandare, Kunal (6 February 2018). "Vicky Kaushal: The silent performer". Forbes India. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  24. ↑ Upadhyay, Karishma (7 July 2018). "With Sanju, Lust Stories, Raazi, Love Per Square Foot, 2018 is Vicky Kaushal's breakout year". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  25. ↑ "Netflix acquires first Indian original movie titled Love Per Square Foot". Business Standard. 27 November 2017. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  26. ↑ Ramakrishnan, Shwetha (15 February 2018). "Love Per Square Foot review: This Netflix film feels like a breezy Bombay version of YRF's Band Baaja Baaraat". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  27. ↑ Maheshwri, Neha (8 May 2018). "Vicky Kaushal: 'Raazi' is more than just a spy thriller, it's a human story". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  28. ↑ "Top Fifteen Films Driven By Female Leads". Box Office India. 23 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  29. ↑ Iyer, Meena (11 May 2018). "Raazi movie review: Alia Bhatt-Vicky Kaushal starrer will blow your mind!". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  30. ↑ Sen, Raja (16 June 2018). "Lust Stories Movie Review: 4 Directors Explore The Idea Of Lust, Without Caution". NDTV. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  31. 1 2 Kameshwari, A. (2 July 2018). "Vicky Kaushal: Kamli is an amalgamation of three or four of Sanjay Dutt's closest friends". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  32. ↑ Gupta, Rachit (29 June 2018). "Sanju Movie Review {4/5}: Ranbir's top gun act". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  33. ↑ Ghosh, Samrudhi (29 June 2018). "Sanju movie reivew: Ranbir Kapoor breathes life into Dutt biopic". India Today. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  34. ↑ "Worldwide Top Ten 2018 - Race 3 Second". Box Office India. 26 June 2018. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  35. ↑ "Box Office: Sanju is now the 6th highest Bollywood grosser worldwide". Bollywood Hungama. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  36. ↑ Basu, Nilanjana (18 April 2018). "Abhishek Bachchan Posts An Update About Manmarziyan". NDTV. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  37. ↑ Chopra, Anupama (13 September 2018). "Manmarziyaan Movie Review". Film Companion. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  38. ↑ Bhowal, Tiasa (17 July 2018). "Vicky Kaushal Injures Arm While Filming Uri, Keeps Shooting". NDTV. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  39. ↑ "Takht: Karan Johar ropes in Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Janhvi Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and others for his next directorial". The Indian Express. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  40. ↑ Singh, Anvita (10 August 2018). "Manmarziyaan song F for Fyaar: The Amit Trivedi track has all the makings of an earworm". The Indian Express. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  41. ↑ Prashar, Chandni (21 February 2016). "Zee Cine Awards: Complete List of Winners". NDTV. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  42. ↑ "Nominations for Stardust Awards 2015". Bollywood Hungama. 15 December 2015. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  43. ↑ "IFFM 2018: Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju wins big". The Indian Express. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
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