Vivaan Shah: “I made the mistake in my career very early on chasing after stardom and success”
Vivaan Shah began his career with smaller roles in big multi-starrers like 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), Happy New Year (2014) and Bombay Velvet (2015). But looking back, the actor, who is the younger son of Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, says he concedes that he took some wrong choice in the initial stage of his career.
His career has seen a slow growth ever since and he told hindustantimes.com, “If I were to give a piece of advice to any actor who is facing a similar predicament as my own, I would say that look at my case. I made the mistake in my career very early on chasing after stardom and success. I started off in this business thinking I am here to be a star. Somewhere along the way I realised that ‘no I am an actor and that is a very important thing.”
Speaking about whether his parents think of his journey so far, he says, “I wish I had listened to their advise. They never bought into this business of stardom and that you have to be certain way and this constitutes success and this does not constitute success. Now the problem is that the time when I started in 2010 was a very different climate in the industry. My peers and my friends were filling my head with all kinds of idiotic advice that I must be like this to be a star or leading man. My parents told me not to listen to the bullsh**t. But I as a young, stupid and immature person did not listen to them. Hence rather than trying to evolve as an actor and do projects where I could prove myself as an actor, I had the greed to become a successful star and leading man. Ultimately that has been to my detriment. I wish that I had followed my parents’ advice.”
Vivaan says that he feels lucky to have done the big movies that he did in light of the fact that it gave people a chance to see him.
“The thing is that the projects of mine which people are familiar with are the ones with big people. Every actor does not get to work with big people all the time. But for the last 6 to 7 years with the exception of A Suitable Boy, the stuff that I have done has not reached an audience,” he says.
Talking about his latest web series, Sutliyan, he says, “It was a wonderful shoot. On top of that it was artistically gratifying. It is a rare instance that we worked hard and we all had a wonderful time as well. I am happy and proud of the work that I have done,” he sign off.
