I got the role in 'Masaan' because Rajkummar Rao didn't have dates: Vicky Kaushal

Masaan actor Vicky Kaushal, who excelled as a bereaved lover in the film, is on a roll. He has just signed on a love triangle with director Sameer Sharma, where he shares screen space with the Dum Lagake Haisha duo Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar. “It’s very different from the usual love triangles,and that’s all I can say at the moment. I started my career with a cameo in Sameer Sharma’s Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana. So it’s like coming home,” says Kaushal. But before Sameer Sharma’s love triangle there is another film ready. From playing a cremator based in Varanasi in Masaan, Kaushal has now moved to playing a musician from Punjab in debutant director Mozez Singh’s Zubaan. [caption id=“attachment_2558306” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Vicky Kaushal in Masaan.[/caption] “The character in Zubaan was easier to do, since I am Punjabi and I do have a fair knowledge of life in rural Punjab. That’s where my character comes from," he says. Kaushal plays a character who is phobic towards music. “I can’t explain any more because it would give away the plot. But Zubaan was easier to do. I could relate better to the character. In Masaan I had to start from scratch. Though I had worked in and around Varanasi as an assistant director to Gangs Of Wasseypur I was not familiar with Varanasi. It was like a whole world opening up to me. I had to learn everything from scratch about the culture language. Zubaan was much easier than Masaan.” About the similar-sound titles of his two films so far Vicky says, “My mother says after Masaan and Zubaan, my next film should be titled Kisaan.” He adds, “To be honest I never expected this kind of acceptance. It was immensely motivating. I felt I was on the right track. If I had chosen to be an actor, I had chosen well for myself.” Kaushal remembers how he got the Masaan role, “The director Neeraj Ghaywan and I were both assistants on Gangs Of Wasseypur. We bonded since then and would discuss scenes from Masaan. During that time Neeraj wanted to sign Rajkummar Rao for my part. But his dates didn’t work out. That’s how I got the part.” Kaushal never expected the reactions that got for his performance in Masaan. “I knew I had worked hard. But this kind of praise was unimaginable.”