EXCLUSIVE! Chhaava actor Viineet Kumar Siingh on the film's epic climax scene: 'When I used to turn and see Vicky Kaushal being tied up...'

While Vicky Kaushal, Rashmika Mandanna and Akshaye Khanna have been garnering accolades for their impressive performances in Chhaava, Viineet Kumar Siingh has also won millions of hearts for his portrayal of Kavi Kalash in Laxman Utekar directorial. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Viineet spoke about his preparation for the legendary role and all the love he is getting from the audience.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

On garnering tremendous response for Chhaava with cinegoers praising your performance

I can feel the excitement. The people who know me closely feel that it’s their success. I am really happy as I have never experienced this kind of love. It’s almost 2 decades in the entertainment industry, but I never experienced this kind of love in my life. I am speechless but I am humbled and grateful to the people, who helped me and trusted me with my acting craft.

I am feeling so energized right now that even three hours of sleep seems sufficient for me. Right now from the love of the audience when I visit theatres to see beautiful messages on phones from friends and admirers, this is the kind of feeling I have never experienced.

On fans feeling your success very personal

My fans and audience, they are feeling like it’s their success.

On the epic climax of Chhaava

Today, I shared a video on my social media handle. Before the shooting of movie, I went to Tulapur, where there are samadhis of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and Kavi Kalash ji and a temple of Lord Shiva. I took the blessings before starting the film and spend a good time there. I felt a vibe at that place. I sat around the samadhi of Kavi Kalash ji for a long time, then went to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj’s samadhi and sat there. After that, I went to Shiva temple and started chanting. I prayed to god to guide me to play this legendary character with full conviction and the journey of this film goes smoothly. That vibe was with me.

While doing that scene, when I used to turn and see Vicky being tied up, I used to feel that my brother, my friend is being tied up and has been stolen from me. There has been a connection and bonding with Vicky as we both worked in Gangs of Wasseypur, where he was an assistant director and I was an actor. There is a mutual respect. So, whenever that scene used to happen, I just saw him for 5 seconds and all the emotions got imbibed and gave me goosebumps at that moment.

So, this is how we used to do the shooting of that climax and every scene was shot in that mood. Me, Vicky and Laxman Utekar (director) had done rehearsals of that scene because Laxman sir was clear about what metre he wanted during the dialogue delivery. During the scene when my character is going away from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, we both are talking loudly to hear each other conversations in the poetries. Laxman sir wanted both the warriors to look fearless in that scene. So, in that scene, there is pride and pain and all the elements come across beautifully, which makes the climax worth remembering and people are now calling it one of the best scenes in the history of Indian cinema.

People are praising the scenes of Kavi Kalash ji and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and are terming their bond showcasing one of the best friendship scenes in Indian cinema. It is so overwhelming that people are giving so much love and it’s just 5 days of release.

Responsibilities while playing the character of Kavi Kalash

There is a great responsibility as it is not a fictional character. If you are making a movie on historical characters, you have to handle the subject with great responsibility and I have always kept this in mind while shooting. So, I try my best to give 100 per cent to that character. Thanks to Laxman Utekar, who gave me this opportunity. He was very clear about how he wanted to make this film because right from his childhood he heard the stories of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj and Kavi Kalash. And as an actor, when you work under the guidance of such directors, it helps you to dive into the character.

Kavi Kalash ji was from Prayagraj and I am from Benaras. You can call it a coincidental similarity. He has spent the majority of his time in Maharashtra (Dakkhan). Right from the  Burhanpur battle to his last breath, he was with Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.

Even I have tasted the salt of Maharashtra as when I came to this state, I got the opportunity to work with Mahesh Manjrekar and when I was assisting him, I got to visit different parts of the state during the release of the movies. I visited many temples, I have many Maharashtrian friends. I am sad that the people of India don’t know about Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and Kavi Kalash. People in Maharashtra know about them but people outside the state don’t know much about them. I feel if a person has a friend like Kavi Kalash, that person becomes precious. How you can describe a friend, who is with you when you are facing death.

I am from Benaras and that place is known for culture, literature, music and everything but despite that, I had an overview of these great warriors but not in-depth knowledge. But when in 2001-02 when I came to Mumbai, I learnt about them more deeply during my association with Mahesh Manjrekar. I feel the sacrifice day of Kavi Kalash and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj should be declared as Friendship Day in India or at least in Maharashtra. What should be the biggest example of the bond between Kavi Kalash and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj to celebrate friendship? So, these kinds of stories should reach small kids in the country. I am humbled and lucky that I got the chance to play this role.

On the poetry scene with Vicky Kaushal

I and Vicky did many readings for that shot as you can see Kavi Kalash and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj are conversing through poetries and people are not able to understand their conversation. The idea behind this scene was not to give answers to each other through poetry but to put across the thinking of Swaraj and the emotions of friendship and love. It was important to work for us because in the climax it is unusual to see a jugalbandi of poetries. I left all the craft for that scene and prayed to god to give my 100 per cent to that sequence. It is such a big thing and an achievement that in the era of reels and pop, rock and Coldplay people are talking about poetries from Chhaava.

I am grateful to Maddock Films, Dinesh Vijan, Pooja Vijan, my director Laxman Utekar and the casting director for giving me this opportunity.