Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
An outsider who carved his way into show business without the backing of any so-called godfathers or power groups, Vikrant Massey’s journey in Bollywood has been remarkable so far, especially following the success of Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail (2023) which propelled his career to new heights. Although he’s now a celebrated actor with a solid fan base, Vikrant’s formative years were anything but easy and his family endured intense financial hardships, even having to live in godowns at one point.
In a conversation with journalist Faye D’Souza, Vikrant shared that while financial struggles can be overcome, the emotional impact lingers, shaping one’s mindset and life choices. When asked if he had entirely moved past those constraints, he quickly replied that he hadn’t, explaining, “It does not; because it’s your conditioning, right? You’ve been conditioned like this for so many years that it almost becomes your paranoia or insecurities. They become a part of you. So, even today, my tomorrows are better than my todays; god’s been kind. But that DNA doesn’t change. I don’t have any financial insecurity, but in the the back of my mind, I feel that everything is transient in life… nothing is permanent… because it’s happened to my parents before.”
“They used to live in Juhu and were neighbours to the Kapoor family. Theirs was a classical Hindi film story: they had a family feud, was thrown out of their own home, lived in godowns with a baby for almost a year and then finally move into Versova. They have seen massive ups and downs. Even though you are no longer a part of it, your parents make sure that you remember this through their experiences; the transience and fickle nature of life. Today I’m sitting in a position of privilege and am not feeling how I did 20 years ago when I started off. But can it not happen to me again tomorrow? Of course it can!”
Vikrant also recalled how his father retired early after both he and his brother Moeen began working. “He retired because my brother and I both started working. Another reason why he retired prematurely was because he was a loyalist. He worked in one company all his life, had a rapport with his boss and the latter unfortunately passed away due to a heart attack. Then the (boss’) wife took over. But my father was no longer as comfortable as he used to be because losing his mentor-cum-friend was a shock to him and it took him a while to overcome that. But since he had to look after his own family, he went back to work. However, he was not feeling what he felt all these years there. By then, my brother was working in a call centre. I was hired by Shiamak Davar as an assistant instructor in his troupe. I was making my own money. That’s when our father said he wants to hang up his boots,” the actor said.
He also shared how his mother contributed financially by running a tiffin service. “My mom also tried to make ends meet for quite some time by making tiffin dabbas for office-going people. She would wake up at 3 am, start cooking at 4 and then by 6, she had to prepare meals for like 20 people. Then the dabbawala would come and take the dabbas. After that, she would send the kids off to school, have breakfast and then go back to bed and sleep. Then she would wake up again in the afternoon because us kids would come back from school. Then she would tutor her children from 4-7 pm. She would cook, care, feed, clean and do everything and then call it a day by 11 pm or 12 at midnight and then wake up again at 3 am.”
Vikrant, who was last seen in director Aditya Nimbalkar’s Netflix crime thriller Sector 36, is now gearing up for the release of Dheeraj Sarna’s The Sabarmati Report, based on Godhra train burning incident of 2002. Also starring Raashii Khanna and Riddhi Dogra, the movie will hit the screens this Friday.
Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
