Vijay Deverakonda: 7 things you didn’t know about him

1. Shot to superstardom with Arjun Reddy in 2017, Vijay made his debut 6 years earlier on Nuvvila. This is the Telugu film that also introduced Yami Gautam. Vijay says he is proud of his debut film and performance , although superstardom came later. He urged to see it and even sent me a DVD of it. He is right. It is an accomplished performance.

2. Arjun Reddy was initially planned with another Telugu star actor Sharwanand. But the director was unable to get a producer for the project. This is when director Sandeep Vanga got Vijay Deverakonda into the project and Vanga’s brother agreed to produce . The startling film had the critics gagging on its alleged misogyny and the MeToo accusations. Vijay distanced himself from his character and said to me, “I most certainly don’t approve of the way Arjun Reddy behaves with women or for that matter men. Live and let live. Cause no harm. Mind your own business. Chill and be happy. These are my moral standards, that’s all I’ll hold myself responsible to. Nope, #MeToo hasn’t changed my rapport with my co-actors. I am as chilled out with them as they’re with me. I don’t know what impact it has had on the industry, but the concept of harassment anywhere makes me pissed from my core.”

3. In his career of 10 years Vijay has made two guest appearances, both unbilled. The first was in the Malayalam masterpiece Kumalangi Nights where Vijay was seen fleetingly in a movie theatre. The second guest appearance was in the recent comedy blockbuster Jathi Ratnalu where he played a guy in a blue shirt and was billed the ‘blue-shirted’ guy. Blue is Vijay’s favourite colour.

4. Though he loves his family and wants to place the sun moon and stars at his parents’ feet, Vijay is basically a loner. He loves to take off for long European trips on his own exploring areas that remain generally unexplored.

5. Though he was shown to be an alcoholic in Arjun Reddy, Vijay is not fond of alcohol. He did not drown inebriating beverages to remain in character in Arjun Reddy. His logic being, “If I was drunk how would I act?”

6. Sandeep Vanga wanted Vijay to do the Hindi version of Arjun Reddy. But sorry, no remakes for Vijay. “Isn’t a remake like doing the same thing, going through the same emotions, twice and therefore inherently artificial?” he once asked me. His Hindi debut Liger(earlier called Fighter) is an original script .

7. When Shahid Kapoor was signed to do the Hindi version of Arjun Reddy Vijay was delighted. Vijay is a Shahid fan. He told me, “I used to trip on Shahid’s debut film Ishq Vishk and I struggled for days to get tickets to see him in Kaminey. I danced my ass off to Dhan-tanaa from Kaminey with my friends behind closed doors. So it’s extremely strange when I think of the fact that he is playing the role I did. I am sure he will have his own interpretation. Other than that, I just wish them the best and will wait to watch it like any other member of the audience.”