Vijay Varma says only ‘one person’ is criticising Gully Boy: ‘If they bought all awards, why wouldn’t they buy for me?’ – bollywood

Pink and Gully Boy actor Vijay Varma does not want to add to the ‘noise’ around the debate on nepotism and the ‘unfair’ treatment doled out to outsiders in Bollywood. He says the issue should be addressed with ‘compassion and real intent’.

Vijay told Hindustan Times In an interview that the conversation has turned binary in nature with two sides simply throwing mud at each other. “I can’t choose a side because it is no longer voices. It’s noise right now. A noise which is very difficult to comprehend and understand. I would really like a little more compassion and dignity in the conversation, therefore, I can understand what is happening. Right now it is just so binary in nature that I don’t want to be a part of it at all. I feel like life is going to be tough, it is inevitable. Every classical writer, mythologist, playwright has said life is going to be tough. So to use this as an excuse for any hidden agenda is not fair and the keechad (mud) thrown at each other is not appreciated. If the system needs to be reimagined, it has to be done with a lot of care, compassion and with real intent and with as little noise around it as possible,” he said.

Watch full interview here:

Vijay also addressed the renewed debate about Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy sweeping multiple awards shows this season. Gully Boy won as many as 13 Filmfare Awards this year, a decision that was seen as a bit too excessive by a few.

Talking about it, Vijay joked that if the team was buying awards, they should have bought one for him as well. “I was not present for any of these awards so I was missing out. I was in other countries, shooting for various films. And these awards were happening in Guwahati (Filmfare Awards). I was not able to make it to any of these awards. I was missing out on the celebration that the team was having. I felt like I was nominated for all these awards but never won anything. But people say it was all bought. But I don’t know. If it was all bought, why would they not buy for me…in the supporting role? Was I not the loved one in the group? That’s not true because they went on to do several projects with me,” he said. Zoya had won the Best Director award while Ranveer Singh won Lead Actor and Alia Bhatt won Lead Actress. Siddhant Chaturvedi won Best Debut Male and Amruta Subhash won Best Supporting Actress at the ceremony.

“So I consider this baseless. It is basically one person targeting the film. It spoke to the nation. It was widely appreciated. It broke through the cultural archetype and became part of the pop culture of the country. I stand by my film and the love it received. I don’t doubt it at all,” he added.

Actor Kangana Ranaut was the loudest voice criticising Gully Boy and its crew for more than a year. Zoya recently talked about Kangana’s constant attacks on the film saying, “She has gone on every platform and basically said that she does not like my work, so I shouldn’t be putting her in that position.”

Vijay who played drug peddler with a golden heart, Moeen in Gully Boy, earned applause for his impressive performance. After that he was also seen as the lead in Netlfix series She, in Zoya’s portion of Ghost Stories with Janhvi Kapoor and will now be seen in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Yaara.

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The film was in a limbo for three years and is finally releasing on Zee5 this Friday. Talking about all the films finding new avenues at OTT and the changed expectations from them, Vijay said, “All the fundas that we had are thrown out of the window. We have 17 releases (Netflix) and we have four releases on the same weekend, four feature films which were all meant to release in theatres. It’s going to be an interesting time. We are talking about times which we have never faced before, a situation which has never occurred in our lifetimes. I think this weekend with be a big observation for all of us. We will know what it is. I have no idea what four films releasing means. I am personally going to study this,” he said.

Yaara is the story of four gun toting, criminal minded best friends in 1970s India who are reunited 20 years later and the events that led up to it. It also stars Vidyut Jammwal, Amit Sadh, Shruti Haasan and Kenny Basumatary.

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