The Great Indian Family and Sam Bahadur: Vicky Kaushal looks at his most important year post-pandemic; can he repeat magic of 2018?

This looks like a career-cementing year for Vicky as the fight for stardom among the younger generation intensifies. Vicky finds himself in an interesting–and an advantageous– position as he is perhaps the ‘newest’ entrant in the club of actors aiming to go higher from where they stand currently. Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, two of the biggest stars from the current lot, are technically his seniors. Varun Dhawan and Kartik Aaryan had an early head start as well. But Vicky is now at the cusp of breaking out of a zone that the audience has comfortably placed him in.

 

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It is this wonderful, but often short-lived space, which provides rising stars the comfort of steady love from the audience and the window to make more mistakes. The space which helps stars-in-the-making find what best works for them, what the audience wants to see them as more often and if there is a balance they can strike between the two. The audience in this phase for any actor is far more forgiving, until the actor reaches a tipping point, after which, they aren’t.

The claws are sharpened, the expectations skyrocket, and the warm glow of a halo feels like a trial by fire every Friday. Vicky, perhaps, will stand at the edge of this cliff by this year-end–or the next year, at best–before he takes a plunge into his shot at stardom.

Golden phase of Vicky Kaushal

In 2018, the best run for the actor so far, Vicky starred in films like Love per Square Foot, Raazi, Lust Stories, Sanju and Manmarziyaan– a mix of blockbusters and hits, with solid performances of his in every film. While Love per Square Foot had a streaming release and Netflix anthology Lust Stories featured him in a segment directed by Karan Johar, the other three films were theatricals and had him in prominent roles, even if they were shouldered by more popular names– Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu.

The films quickly turned Vicky into one of the rising stars of Hindi cinema. His popularity reached its peak a year later, when the actor headlined the biggest hit of his career with Uri- The Surgical Strike doing a whopping Rs 245 cr at the box office.

The film ensured Vicky coming very close to becoming a movie star, but there was obviously a catch. The numbers of Uri were hugely boosted by the government lapping the film up and endorsing it in every public forum possible. People flocked to the cinemas to watch the film, which had become a movement, and not necessarily for Vicky. It did help him to tap the widest audience base possible in his career, but to test the lasting star power, it was important for Vicky to return with a film which continued his momentum.

 

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When he did return to cinemas in 2020, he had a box office dud with the ambitious horror film Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship. Soon after that, the pandemic brought everything to a standstill–and viewers forgot about the film just as quickly. Vicky returned to further his glory with the multiple National award-winning biopic Sardar Udham, which had a direct-to streaming release in 2021.

The film’s acclaim was so strong and the impact of his performance as the freedom fighter so haunting, that it also overrode his middling second OTT release, Govinda Naam Mera. Though he was missing in action on the big screen and wasn’t able to truly test his potential post Uri, Vicky continued to stay relevant as an actor.  All he needed was to dip his toes again in the world of theatricals, which is when his fortunes changed earlier this year.

 

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The success of Zara Hatke Zara Bachke was crucial, because he was fronting a full-blown theatrical release for the first time since Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship. The film took an opening of Rs 5.49 cr– a tall figure for a movie released after a 20-day promotional marathon and chartbuster music. To put in context, Akshay Kumar’s Selfiee had opened at Rs 2.55 cr only just few months before Zara Hatke Zara Bachke.

The romantic comedy emerged a surprise hit of the year, clocking Rs 88 cr domestically. It was also an incredibly important film for Vicky to test his ability to pull in the audience. To check if they can forgive his off-key attempts, carry forward the goodwill of him being a bankable performer and reignite his box office journey.

The Great Indian Family, unlike Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, neither has a chartbuster soundtrack to help it give it a big push for the opening nor the frenzied fallback of multiple city promotions. But it does have Vicky Kaushal, yet again leading a project that he will hope to make a space in eventually: the humble, small town comedy dramas. And by the time the audience settles down regarding its verdict on the film, Vicky will return in a completely new space with Sam Bahadur. Perhaps it will be best to check with him in early 2024, how he looks back at 2023. If the halo around him is slowly morphing into a crown.