Vivek Oberoi says it’s an ‘open secret’ why his career took a hit: ‘Some people have an arrogance about being nice’

Recalling how he was sidelined, Oberoi said during a chat with Mashable Middle East: “If something bad, like your film’s failure, has happened, that’s one thing. But the feeling of being so helpless when you know it is going to happen again and again, and that you are going to get manoeuvred or manipulated out of work, or crushed and not even get the opportunity to prove yourself, that is very frustrating. I personally think there’s nothing worse than feeling completely helpless. You know something’s happening, but you can’t do anything about it.”

When the interviewer asked Oberoi if he knew who was behind it, he promptly replied, “Of course I do. It’s a small industry, and it’s an open secret.”

“But you have to deal with it. Those things taught me to be a good person and a good human being, to be humble, nice, and helpful. And not to abuse the position of power I am in. Some people have an arrogance about being nice. They develop that also, there’s a righteousness around it. It’s a disease, you have to stay away,” he added. Oberoi also expressed that he is currently experiencing complete bliss and contentment.

When asked about his interest in exploring other facets of cinema and producing a film one day, Oberoi expressed his desire to do so. However, he also shared an incident where he once made a regrettable choice of investing in a company run by “people lacking integrity”. “I once set out to do something like that, banking on some youngsters. But they turned out to be inauthentic people with no integrity and basically frauds. I invested in their company to create content and build stuff. However, I later realised that I invested in the wrong people. Then I had to close that chapter,” he recalled.