You knew there is something special about the guy when you came out of Dil Dhadakne Do, talking more about him than Ranveer Singh.
For those who couldn’t go beyond his effortless acting and metro sexual looks, the guy’s name is Vikrant Massey and his performance shone in a film that had a huge ensemble cast.
In fact, the writing was on the wall ever since he featured in Lootera and was received warmly. And the way we see it now, this year is gonna be his.
Massey has a pleasant personality that can light up a frame. No wonder, brands are lining up after him to endorse their products.
The Nescafé advertisement where he plays a cartoonist, simply put, is just so endearing.
The Samsung ads, where he gave Shahid Kapoor a run for his money.
And the Cornetto advertisement with Alia Bhatt which is sweet enough to give you diabetes.
This guy just steals the show even when he’s working with popular film stars.
However, it’s not always been so easy for the actor. Vikrant started with popular stints in TV shows, TVCs and it was only after his performances were noticed that Bollywood came calling. He has been working in television since 2007 when he appeared in the Disney channel show, Dhoom Machaao Dhoom. He started getting noticed for his TV show Dharam Veer, where he played the lead, Dharam.
But his instant rise to fame and the role he is still remembered for, by many of his TV fans, was in popular daily soap, Balika Vadhu. And that, when he wasn’t even the lead of the show.
The audience just loved him for his natural acting and finesse.
And when it was time to move on to greener pastures, Massey was on point as always.
In fact, his performance in DDD was so effortless, even the perfectionist of Bollywood and the narrator of the movie, Aamir Khan called him up in the middle of the night and congratulated him on his performance.
Prior to this, Vikrant was also seen in the popular TV show, Qubool Hai, which was quite a rage at the time.
And here’s why this year is gonna be special for Massey.
After entertaining his audience for almost a decade, Vikrant is finally doing his first film as the lead hero in Konkona Sen Sharma’s directorial debut, A Death In The Gunj.
His co-stars in the film include, Kalki Koechlin, Tillotama Shome, Gulshan Devaiah and Om Puri.
When asked about his experience being the lead actor, he told Indian Express in an interview, “I would be lying if I would say that I never wanted to be a lead actor. But at the same time I would say it’s a lot of responsibility also. The story is being told through you and it is a challenge and I as an individual, I think I can perform better under challenge.”
While filming for this film, Vikrant did not take a bath for a week and didn’t wash his hair for an entire month. His character in the film has an unkempt look and Vikrant did what was asked of him by his director. His film, Lipstick Under My Burkha, is also slated to release this year where he stars with Konkona Sen Sharma and Sushant Singh.
To back his beliefs in the art, Massey has produced a short film as well.
The true artist that he is, he believes in creating content and so he became a producer with Nivedita Basu. He produced a short film, 35 mm, which was received well at various film festivals. He believes in the idea of freedom of expression and feels that film festivals provide more freedom to a creator.
And just when you were busy watching cat videos on the Internet, Massey was giving yet another brilliant performance in a web series called Local Girlfriend.
Vikrant was also seen in a short web series called, Local Girlfriend. The series just had 3 episodes and isn’t very popular with the Internet audience but Vikrant’s work in this is just brilliant. You can check out the promo here.
With the release of A Death In The Gunj, we are hoping that this will be Vikrant’s year. His talent is unmatched and he slips himself into each character that he plays. His personality has got just the perfect charm that you can’t not be a fan.