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Bollywood buffs still remember Ken Ghosh’s 2003 romantic comedy Ishq Vishk, also his first major directorial, as the launchpad of Shahid Kapoor. But there were other supporting actors too, who made their debut with that film. These include VJ-turned-actors Shenaz Treasurywala and Vishal Malhotra, who also turned into overnight sensations with the film’s release and commercial success.
“Ken, Shahid and I went to Gaiety Galaxy on the first day of release. It’s a multiplex now, but at that time, it was a single screen, in Bandra, Mumbai,” recalled Vishal, adding, “But when we came out after watching the film… oh my god! If someone asks me if I’ve ever been physically assaulted, it was that day. It wasn’t out of anger, but because the audience wanted to touch you.”
Vishal added that it was as big a turning point for Shahid, who played the lead. He then went on to star in memorable films like Sooraj Barjatya’s 2006 romantic drama Vivah, Imtiaz Ali’s 2007 romantic comedy Jab We Met, Vishal Bhardwaj’s crime dramas Kaminey (2009) and Haider (2014), Abhishek Chaubey’s Udta Punjab (2016), Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2018 period drama Padmaavat, and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2019 romantic drama Kabir Singh.
But Vishal attributes “all the credit” of Ishq Vishq to its “really amazing” director Ken Ghosh. Ken had made his directorial debut with the lesser known 1999 film Double Gadbad. He got further attention with the 2004 romantic thriller Fida, also starring Shahid alongside Kareena Kapoor and Fardeen Khan. Ken’s latest directorial was the 2021 action thriller State of Siege: Temple Attack, which dropped on ZEE5.
Vishal started his career with television, hosting the Disney Hour in 1995, before making his acting debut in the iconic TV show Hip Hip Hurray. “I’d already worked for five to six years before Ishq Vishk released, and had already gotten established. My character of John from Hip Hip Hurray had gotten very famous. The show also got very famous because of the writing and direction. I’d also done a lot of ad films by then. But watching myself in a film was a different ballgame,” added Vishal.
Also Read — Ishq Vishk Rebound movie review: Gen Z version of Shahid Kapoor’s debut is a letdown
He didn’t realize how big a deal was to see himself on the big screen. “I don’t come from a film family. I started television as a summer job. Disney was paying me Rs 4,000 per episode 30 years ago! So I used to earn Rs 16,000 every month because Disney Club used to air every Sunday on DD Metro at 10 am,” recalled Vishal. Most notably, he was last seen in Milind Dhaimade’s 2016 slice-of-life film Tu Hai Mera Sunday.
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