EXCLUSIVE: My Father Has Taught Me To Be A Self-Made Man, says Vicky Kaushal

On a surprisingly pleasant Saturday afternoon with even the traffic playing easy on us, when we reached to meet Vicky Kaushal at his Andheri apartment in anticipation of catching up with yet another star son, we were taken by surprise. Answering the door was the guy himself, easily dressed evidently excited about the interview. He walks us through his beautifully designed apartment and offers coffee himself. Along the living room is a small study that’s mostly occupied with several of trophies that he makes sure to mention has been won by his father.

In case you aren’t aware of who we are talking about here, it is the senior action director Sham Kaushal. The same man who is credited to have won most Filmfare awards in the category of action, including the very recent Bajirao Mastani. Having debuted with a film like Masaan, while no one thought Vicky was in fact an industry kid, he along the lines made sure to be known as a self-made man, courtesy of what his father has taught him.

Source: HT Brunch

“Is he in the house?” we ask him and he says yes, “he’s probably reading a few scripts.” He talks about how his father has been a self-made man who virtually didn’t have anything when he came to Mumbai in quest of a livelihood. “He is my point of inspiration in life because he truly is a self-made man. He comes from a very small village in Punjab where he started studying ABCB in 6^th standard. He eventually landed up being the topper of Punjab University while he was doing his M.A. in English literature. He wanted to be a lecturer but his financial support didn’t let him, so he came to Bombay to struggle and worked as a salesman earning 350 rupees a month.”

On being asked how Sham Kaushal the salesman became Sham Kaushal the ace action director, Vicky said it was his destiny. “He somehow got in touch with some stuntmen from the industry and became a stuntman himself. He worked as a stuntman for eight years before turning into an action director himself with Nana Patekar’s Prahaar in 1990. That’s been his journey, he’s lived with the idea of giving your 100 percent.”

For most us of us who saw Vicky pulling of a performance like Masaan based in Varanasi in his very first film, it was hard to grasp he is an industry insider besides being a Punjabi. Having said that, the actor had his view around explaining as why he never could be a Bollywood kid. “Never in my childhood was I that kid who was excited to go a film’s set and meet heroes. I was one of those kids who liked studying, playing cricket and watching movies. I’ve always lived with the idea of concentrating on your present. My dad never cared about how I was faring in academics and what I wanted to next. Even after I completed my Engineering but told him that acting is what I want to do, he was very happy.”

Vicky’s major break in movies was through proper auditioning and he never had his Dad help him sail through anything. The larger influence that he believes to have carried courtesy of his father is to be a good human being and love the industry. “My father loves this industry and everything he’s achieved he owes it here. He’s always taught me to respect people and be a human being. It’s okay if you’re just 8 on talent and 10 as a human being because that will take you through a longer way.”

As much as we respect Vicky for having acknowledged the role of his father in his life, you can’t ignore the values Sham Kaushal has given to him. He respects the craft, he loves his work and all he wants is to be a self-made man like his father.

By the way, when we asked him to make three of the best picks of his father’s works, this is what his answer was, “he’s done a lot but Black Friday, Prahaar and Bajirao Mastani is what I’d pick.”