IN GOOD COMPANY: INTRODUCING VIVEK OBEROI

By Fuad Omar.

I went to meet Vivek Oberoi and didn't get my interview. It's not that he kept me waiting, was too busy or simply has stopped talking to the press, but read on and you'll find out why there's no interview. However my meeting with Vivek Oberoi was one where I probably got more out of him than if I had interviewed him.

I first met Vivek on the sets of Dum, when I popped in to see a friend. A jeweller's shop had been transformed into a film set packed with lights, hoards of people outside trying to catch glimpses of what was going on inside every time the door opened and was my first glimpse of the much touted newcomer. I was leaving for London and had dropped by to say farewell to a dear friend when she said, "You must meet this young man, he's going to be the next big thing.". Those are literally the words that echo in my mind every time I recount our first meeting. She walked over and introduced me to a tall, tanned man who had a charming smile, a firm handshake and was full of conversation that exuded warmth and honesty. We connected instantly.  Five minutes later and we were talking about London, New York and becoming friends, leaving the person who I came to see calling me every five minutes.

That was when I first met Vivek Oberoi. This time, armed with my Dictaphone, questions that probed the mind and attempted to explain exactly his stand in Indian cinema at this precise moment of time, I journeyed off to Walkeshwar, which for those who don't know Mumbai is in town. When I saw him on the sets of a forthcoming film, the first thing I notice is that he seems to have lost weight since I last saw him and his smile is just as reassuring. He greets me and helps me to escape from the Mumbai heat, ensuring I'm well looked after with refreshments, a sofa and an air conditioner blowing in my face. Minutes later he emerges and we strike up a conversation so quickly it 's like landing on your feet running. We spend a few minutes catching up on what's been happening since we last met in our respective lives and sporting a glimpse of tiredness in his eyes, I ask about how work is. He smiles and says it's good before going on to explain he's just worked straight through the last 34 hours and has no intention of stopping soon. He's tired and being worked like a machine, yet his enthusiasm is on overdrive. Like a child who doesn't want to close his eyes in case he misses something, Vivek is working round the clock to the best of his ability and succeeding in creating magic on celluloid. Few have seen him on screen when I write this, but the rushes I've seen of some of his debut venture Company's scenes and what I've seen of Dum in the on-set monitor is enough to arouse interest. "I've conditioned myself to nap, which is something I could never do before," he tells me, smiling. "I catch a few hours of sleep here and there and it works."

After realising our common passion for cinema, its nuances, details and the attention paid to creating a moment on celluloid that will be documented forever, we are caught up in a verbal sparring session feeding off each other and moving from topic to topic at speeds that cut like a razor. If there's one open door I cannot resist, it's discussing my favourite medium, industry and profession and I take the bait. I make a comment on the pain some actors go through for their roles and the passion with which they happily leap from tall buildings and break their knees dancing because they love their art so much and realise that while pain is momentary, film is forever. Vivek tells me about his action sequences and how scared he was when giving his first action take which he had to do again for continuity's sake immediately after he experienced the satisfying rush that follows completing something you've set out to do with a bout of adrenalin. Vivek has full faith in his action directors and through leaving the responsibility with them has performed more action in the past few months than I've done in a lifetime.

Vivek is tall, good looking and oozes charisma. His confidence is to his advantage because when he tells you something can be done, no matter how impossible, you believe it can be. He's not taking the conventional clean-shaven hero riding-on-a-motorbike-with-a-girl-on-his-arm route with his debut film, which shows him on the hoarding at Juhu sporting a beard and moustache, a cigarette tightly meshed between his teeth and a menacing look that commands attention. He's exciting and grabs your attention in every frame you see him, but is already experiencing media hype pre his film's release. He's been called in the past few days "the best thing to happen to Bollywood", "the next Hrithik Roshan" and a "legend in the making" but the praise does not daunt him nor does he succumb to the game the media is trying to play with him. "My film hasn't even released yet and they're saying these things," he says shaking his head. I tell him about the oft-too-familiar path those before him have had to take which involves the media building you up for months and then as soon as you displease them they bring you crashing down beginning an in-print tirade aimed at crucifying your career. My words are repeated back to me as Vivek knows and has seen this all before. He's not about to fall into any trap because he knows his medium and knows his job. Success to him is successfully portraying the character he's agreed to adopt and convincingly contributing towards good cinema, and through what he says he's most excited because he's being allowed to give his all to everything he's doing. In what totally blows me away for the next ten minutes, Vivek takes me on a visual and empathic trip through the characters he's portraying in the next few months. Starting with Chandu from Company he mouths some dialogues to me threateningly and his mannerisms change instantly giving me a Primal Fear Edward Norton complex. He tells me how he spent time in slums observing the way people walked, sat, talked and behaved and mimicked them to the hilt, as though this was his education. His dedication led him to make himself look seven shades darker than his natural skin colour to successfully assay the role. Next up he is his character from Dum and gets up to show me how this man walks, whose psyche is of a victim of circumstance. Before I know it I've seen seven shades of Vivek myself and have felt each character as if I know them myself, that's how convincingly he runs through each one. And it's not just mannerisms he's created but also each one speaks differently, one with a slang, the other in a soft-spoken delicate tone, and when he starts talking normally I'm slightly disoriented for a while as I get my feet back to reality and the real Vivek Oberoi.

The creativity, spontaneity and immense dedication to studying and living each role he takes on is Vivek's trump card and he's not even playing poker. He's not in the game to win, but to be true to his art. He's here to do good work and give good performances and given his knowledge of cinema, he has every potential within him to conquer his medium and achieve the satisfaction he craves. I am not going to say Vivek Oberoi is a legend in the making nor state without seeing his film he's an ace artiste, but what I will say is he's definitely an actor that excites me. He has in him a crackling flame that burns brighter with every new thing he learns, and will slowly become an engulfing inferno that has the potential to set Indian cinema on fire and push forward our industry in terms of performance and professionalism.

I came to meet Vivek and didn't get my interview because we ended up passively discussing cinema and delving in conversations that mirrored our common goals and love for the medium. I went to meet Vivek Oberoi and didn't get my interview, but I got so much more: A rare glimpse into the mind of the actor who is as excited about his roles as those who are writing them and a man who knows so much about and understands cinema like few people do, and what's most exciting is that he's still growing. "Change will always happen, but growth is what matters," is something he said to me that rings through my ears as I leave the building.

Vivek Oberoi is someone who is one to watch, because as long as he keeps asking questions he'll always be the answer. Plus he owes me an interview.