Vicky Kaushal would dance for everybody’s entertainment on set, now he gets paid for it: Anurag Kashyap says actor ‘hasn’t changed’

Director Anurag Kashyap and Vicky Kaushal have had many adventures together. Vicky got his start as an assistant director on Anurag’s Gangs of Wasseypur films, and was actually arrested during the shoot. He later went on to star for Anurag in the films Raman Raghav 2.0 and Manmarziyaan, and even appeared for an extended cameo in the filmmaker’s last release, Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat.

In an interview with Jist, Anurag said that Vicky hasn’t changed one bit even after tasting major success, and added that filmmakers haven’t tapped into his full potential yet. He said in Hindi, “He’s the same, sincere boy. He hasn’t changed. He was always very hard-working. In the middle of shooting, we’d say, ‘Vicky, dance karke dikha (Vicky, dance for us).’ Now people pay him to dance. But nobody has properly explored his potential. Nobody has cast him in a proper action role; there’s nobody better than him. He’s Sham Kaushal’s son; he’s been doing action since he was a child.”

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Previously, Anurag had said that he feels guilty about asking Vicky to work with him now, because the actor’s market value has increased, and he knows that he cannot afford him. But he also knows that Vicky wouldn’t charge him money; case in point, he did the extended cameo in Almost Pyaar for free. He told Zoom Entertainment, “If I’m making a low-budget film, Vicky will come and do it for free, which is a burden for me. Of course, I feel guilty. Vicky did Almost Pyaar for me. He came, he gave me his dates, he charged me nothing.”

Vicky recalled his early experiences with Anurag in an old interview with acting coach Atul Mongia, and revealed that the first time he faced the camera was for an ‘item number’ in the film Trishna, directed by Michael Winterbottom. The job was facilitated by Anurag. Vicky was last seen in the romantic drama Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, and will next be seen in The Great Indian Family.