MESS-merising!

Mona

In his upcoming film Yaara, Vidyut Jammwal is going to play a gangster named Phagun, a role which gives glimpses of his ‘real’ self. Like Phagun, Vidyut stands by his friends. Excited about the film’s release scheduled for July 30 on Zee5, Vidyut shares about the film.

“It’s my second film with Tigmanshu Dhulia after Bullet Raja, a film which I thoroughly enjoyed doing. I always wanted to be a leading man in his films, and Yaara gave me that chance,” opens up the happy, perky actor.

The film that has friendship at its core also gave Vidyut a chance to forge new bonds. “I do not believe in this ‘you can’t make friends in industry’ discourse. During the shoots, I met four amazing boys who now I call friends,” says Vidyut, who has Amit Sadh, Vijay Varma, Kenny Basumatary and Sanjay Mishra as co-stars in Yaara. He is paired with Shruti Haasan.

An Army kid, who has travelled across India and studied in boarding school, Vidyut has his fair share of friends. Stardom is transitory, but friends stay. “My biggest ‘high’ of being an actor is that I have such amazing friends. Many a time I get video calls from my school friends at 2:30 at night, and what follows is a barrage of ‘ab tu bada aadmi ho gaya hai’, teasing me for a few seconds before going back to our old days. I wait for their calls.”

One of the fittest actors in Bollywood, Kalaripayattu, the martial art form, is Vidyut’s first love. But questions like ‘what time he wakes up’ and ‘what he eats to keep fit’ baffle him and amuse him in equal measures. “Look, we all are unique. Just by eating what I eat or waking up at the hour I do, no one can become anther Vidyut. A man is the sum total of what he does, reads, what kind of people he is surrounded by – that’s what makes us unique.”

While giving interviews comes with the job, Vidyut now has taken the role of a host, getting action stars on the show and asking them all the questions that he wished to be asked. X-Rayed is the title of his show in which he chats with his friends like ‘undisputed’ action star Scott Adkins and Muay Thai artiste Tony Jaa.

“Fans have always shown interest in martial arts. The show, X-Rayed, gives me an opportunity to chat with my friends. I am glad that it is well received.”

Making it to the 10 People You Don’t Want To Mess With in the World list has got Vidyut proud and shocked both. “My mother’s reaction was the sweetest. She goes, ‘Eat well, kitna kamzor ho gaya hai’,” he laughs. “I tried to reason with her that the list proves just the opposite, but then you know how mums are. Mums run the world!”

Not just worried about his heath, she also thinks he has had enough of action in life. “Post Commando 3 when she came out of the theatre, she complimented me that ‘You have done good’, ‘you looked great’ and then goes, ‘now everyone knows you can do action, do something else’. She doesn’t want me to do stunts in case I get hurt.”

mona@tribunemail.com