Vijay Varma opens on why he dislikes calling upcoming actors as strugglers

Actor Vijay Verma, who is known for his notable roles in a few films, was recently seen in Darlings alongside Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah. In a recent interview with ETimes, he spoke extensively about his experience in Bollywood and briefed on why he dislikes the term ‘struggler.’

The actor also spoke about how his small roles in movies like Pink and Gang of Ghost served as stepping stones in his career. He also revealed he initially thought that his wide-eyed naive simplicity and positivity would help him land several opportunities.

He explained, “I detest the idea of artists, especially actors, being called strugglers. In any other profession if a young person is out of work, they are called unemployed. Only in the field of acting, when an actor doesn’t have work, he or she is called a struggler. This kind of snark remark at my profession is something that doesn’t go down well with me.”

Vijay continued by talking about how his breakout performance in Gully Boy altered people's views towards him. He also stated that the Monsoon Shootout was one of his personal achievements. He said, “I had never imagined myself getting a film that good in such an early phase in my career, and that too, as a lead. Nobody was making films with actors in the lead who didn’t fit a certain stereotype.”

Vijay also recollected the moment where he and Amit Kumar attended the Cannes Film Festival together for the movie Monsoon Shootout. Despite the fact that they had to wait a long time for the movie to be released, he still considers that as a personal accomplishment rather than a career-defining one.

He made a significant career breakthrough with Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy, in which he portrayed the part of Moeen. He explained, “Gully Boy changed a lot of things for me, including public perception. Before that, whenever my name was pitched for a role, people would ask ‘Who is Vijay Varma?’. I think that question got answered with Gully Boy and that was a significant thing for me.”