MUMBAI :Vijay Varma delivered one of the biggest hits and critically acclaimed films of the year, Darlings where he played the detestable character of Hamza. While the star is riding high on the success of the film, he recently visited his Alma mater, Film and Television Insititute in Pune and had quite the nostalgia hitting him. 

In an interview with a leading daily, he talked about how FTII happened for him, as he shared, “I had everything required to get admission to FTII, except the money for the fee. And I couldn’t ask my father for it because I’d already taken money from him for a few other courses. So, a dear friend of mine offered to pay my fees and that’s that.” He adds about his love for Pune, “I spent two and a half years in the city and though we were all preoccupied with our studies and assignments, we would explore the city whenever we got the time. We would go to Hanuman Tekdi, Sinhagad Fort, Nal Stop for the chaha-pohe and would catch morning shows for new films because they would be cheaper. I also loved going to the National Film Archives of India campus to watch global cinema. When we had a little more money and felt fancy, we would go to eat burgers in Koregaon Park. I have really fond memories of Pune.”

Talking about playing his character to the T whether it is a negative character or a positive, Vijay shares how he likes to study his characters deeply as he can come up with something surprising. “Submitting or surrendering to a character is a necessary evil of the job if you want to achieve something that can surprise you. So, I feel it’s good to deep dive into it, but also have an anchor, a leg in the door, so that you have a way back to reality. Actor Javier Bardem once said that there’s just one difference between an actor and a mad person – that the actor has a two-way ticket. So, we know how to slip into a character, do our job and return to our real self”. 

With Darlings now released on an OTT platform, Vijay also has an exciting slate of projects ahead including, Devotion of Suspect X with Kareena Kapoor Khan, Dahaad with Sonakshi Sinha, Mirzapur 3 and Sumit Saxena's untitled next.