Vijay Varma, who played Moeen in Gully Boy, reveals that he drew inspiration from his heroes Jackie Shroff and Amitabh Bachchan to shape his character. In the film, Moeen is a brother like character to Muraad, the protagonist played by Ranveer Singh.
“I have hung around Jackie Shroff a lot and he is a great guy to chat with. The large-heartedness of Moeen comes from Bhidu (as Shroff is fondly called by fans) because he is so giving. He always looks after everyone. I used him as a reference point,” says Varma, according to IE.
Directed by Zoya Akhtar, Gully Boy has been jointly written by Akhtar, Reema Kagti and Vijay Maurya. The movie is based on the hip-hop scene and rap artists of Bombay, and talks about a boy from Dharavi who wants to become a rapper. The style and attitude, two words always associated with rap-artists, stand out in the film.
“The swag comes from my love for Mr Bachchan. I don’t think it was in my or even Zoya’s mind. It was probably a very subconscious love for him and the movies at large,” he adds.
In addition, he also met rap artists to pick up their lingo. “There is a way they say ‘kamti’ hote hai. You just can’t mouth it. You have to do it in a certain style. I also worked on smaller things. Like this guy would have stained teeth. If you have it, it means bad hygiene, which means he doesn’t care about it. These little things came together.”
Moeen is a mechanic by day and carjacker by night. It took Vijay Verma a lot of time to figure out his character as it had shades of grey, he says. He may be a drug dealer and carjacker but he is also someone trying to bet by against all odds.
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“There were some qualities I could resonate with. He is a fun guy, who doesn’t carry the baggage of a tough life he might have definitely had. He has a lot of optimism, which even I do,” he adds.
Though Vijay Verma has appeared in movies like Chittagong, Pink and Monsoon, it is Gully Boy that has finally announced his arrival. He says about the late-blooming nature of his career, “When you are doing theatre and a play is happening, you are waiting in the wings for your entry. You enter and do your bit. I was in the wings, ready, with my costume on, knowing that now I will enter. But sometimes I didn’t get that entry. With Gully Boy, it feels like this is the time I am entering the stage and doing my bit.”
Image Courtesy: TNIE