Vivek Oberoi reveals he walked out of his father’s film, was initially rejected by Ram Gopal Varma for Company: ‘I had a crisis of conscience’

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Vivek also opened up about hailing from a film family yet taking an off-beat route. He shared, “Both my parents come from highly educated families, Dad was the black sheep who decided to try his luck at acting. His parents wanted him to be a doctor or join IIT, the typical Indian Dream. Mom was very conscious of hearing horror stories about kids getting spoiled, getting into drugs, and dropping out of school, so that was a nightmare. She was even more focused on me and my sister Meghna that we had to study. Graduation was a must, it was non-negotiable, so we studied well. My mom made sure that we were on the right path always.”

‘I walked out from the film my father was making to launch me’

Vivek revealed his father wanted to launch him in Bollywood, but he didn’t want that. He said, “When my father wanted to launch me, I had a crisis of conscience, I didn’t want my father to invest the money to launch me, I wanted it to be more on merit. He was worried, but he respected me as a man that day. My father was making a film for me with Abbas Mastan and I walked away from that opportunity, struggled for 18 months after that, and faced a lot of rejection, but I am proud of that choice.”

‘Ram Gopal Varma rejected me outright for Company’

Growing up in a film family, Vivek had his first brush with acting when he was five, it was a school play that gave him the direction. By 11 he had decided to be in front of the camera. He did a Master’s degree in cinema from the Trinity College in London, and made his debut with Company in 2002. But the actor reveals he had to work very hard to convince RGV to cast him in the film, and he was initially rejected. Vivek shares, “I went to meet Mr. Varma, he saw my pictures and rejected me outright. He said I looked talented, but I was too polished and well-educated, so I didn’t fit the bill of this slumdog, Chandu. I just asked him to give me one meeting and he said why, I know you won’t fit the part.”

“He was traveling for three weeks so he said he would meet me after that. From his office I didn’t go home, I went straight to a nearby slum, took a room there, paid the rent, and moved into it. I lived there for 3 weeks and bought one of those dictaphones, and I would go around recording how the boys spoke there. I started to understand the nuances, etc. I called a struggling photographer to help a struggling actor and take some pictures. I told him if I made it, he would get to shoot the first cover I appeared on. I finally got the meeting with Mr Varma. I landed up there dressed as the character, hoping he would audition me,” Vivek added.

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He continued, “I wore chappals, badly fitting pants, a torn banyan, and walked in. At the door, I lit up a beedi and kicked the door open. I walked in with swag, pulled the chair, and sat down. I gave him a death stare and threw my pictures on his table to take a look. He then got up and told me I was doing the film. I was so scared wondering whether he was testing me that I refused to drop the character. He then told me to stop smoking in his office. It was my dream to work with Mr Varma; Satya was one of my all-time favorites. He was a great filmmaker, so it was a dream to be a part of Company.”

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‘I thought I was going to get fired on the first day of Company’s shoot’

He said, “I remember the first day of the shoot; I was so nervous performing in front of Ajay Devgn. We both are giving each other that attitude. Mr Varma came in quietly and said something in somebody’s ears, said something to Ajay on the side. However, he didn’t tell me anything, it happened a couple of times. I started feeling that I was out of the film and he didn’t want to waste time on me. I couldn’t eat my lunch and was looking at the ocean when he came in. He came to me and said if I don’t like what you are doing I will tell you, if I don’t tell you anything it means I like what you are doing. That left me with double the energy.”

On the work front, Vivek was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s Indian Police Force. Next, he is shooting for Masti 4 and will also be launching his lab-grown diamonds brand Solitario. The actor has two more films in the pipeline.