Vivek Oberoi: My family WON'T see Grand Masti

Vivek Oberoi admits his wife Priyanka was shocked when she heard about his upcoming film, Grand Masti.

The trailer of this sex comedy is full of adult jokes, and clearly not meant for women, as his co-star Aftab Shivdasani says.

But Vivek, 37, promises a lot of masti in the film.

In this conversation with Sonil Dedhia, the 37-year-old actor talks about the film, and his reservations about being a part of it, his villainous turn in Krrish 3, and how he loves to spend time with his son Vivaan Veer.

You seem to be in a happy space right now. You have a son Vivaan Veer back home, Grand Masti close to release, and there’s Krrish 3 lined up.

I couldn’t have asked for more. I’d seen the phenomenal success of India’s Best Dramebaaz, a television show I judged. Then I had my little prince coming into our lives and now Grand Masti, for which honestly, none of us expected the buzz to be so strong.

The promo really picked up on social media platforms and the feedback that we got was phenomenal.

Then of course, there’s Krrish 3 promo which is breaking record after record on social media platforms.

So life is good. There’s so much to be thankful about in our lives, so be happy.

How has life changed after your son entered your life?

I spend most of my calories being his clown, dancing, singing, all kinds of mad stuff. Bathing him is the most amazing two hours of my day.

We play for an hour-and-a-half and then I give him a bath in the tub and sing nonsense stuff. I keep making the lyrics up as we go along. It drives my wife crazy but he loves it.

You were a bachelor when you did Masti but now you are married. How did your wife react when she heard about this film?

It was quite funny. When they came to narrate the script, my wife being a good host came to offer refreshments and in the process she heard a few gags. I saw her expression. Her eyes went twice the size in shock that my husband is doing this film! (laughs).

I immediately called Riteish, who I call Daddu because he is the baap of sex comedies. I asked him whether to sign this film or not because it’s outrageous.

He had a valid point that when people are enjoying a film like Hangover even in dubbed versions, why are we being hypocritical about it? Let’s go all out and take it to another level.

Indra Kumar, the director, has the ability to maintain the fine line between vulgarity and funny. So some things that appear vulgar on paper end up being funny when he shoots it.

Has your wife seen the movie?

No, my family hasn’t seen the film and won’t be seeing it either. I’ll take everyone on a vacation far, far away, to a disconnected land (laughs).

I remember I was in Bangalore at my mother-in-law’s house and just when I was walking out of the bedroom I saw her watching the promo of Grand Masti. I immediately turned around and walked right back to my bedroom! 

Aftab Shivdasani stated in his interview said that he had to really come out of his comfort zone to do a film like this. What was your reaction when you first heard the narration?

Yes, he really did come out of his comfort zone because we schemed against him. All the deadliest of double meaning scenes which both Riteish and I just couldn’t do, we had them executed on Aftab!

Is having a relatively experienced cast important in a film like this to add credibility? It could appear sleazy if done by a completely new cast.

Today, all of us have seen American Pie with no known cast and yet we all loved it. All of us have seen Hangover which had no experienced stars in it but we loved it.

So it can also happen that people see it, love it and it becomes a movement of the youth. But I think established actors like us being there adds a little more credibility and props the film up a little bit.

Ajay Devgn in a recent interview said that only newcomers can do sex comedies because they don’t have to conform to an image.

I don’t know. Have you seen Shaukeen? It had legendary actors and in its own subtle way it was a sex comedy. It’s a respected genre, why not explore it.

We Indians need to grow up a little bit. We don’t mind sending all kinds of non-veg jokes on SMS but we hesitate doing the same thing when it is in front of somebody who we think will judge us.

If you have ever watched a film with your family and there’s a love-making scene, people will start looking here and there. We have that awkwardness as a society. We need to get over that.

I keep saying this to everyone: Grand Masti is a family film that the entire family needs to watch--independently! (laughs). Watch this film with friends because I think there’s no age barrier between friends.

Did you think of the reactions you might get because as you say, people can be really judgmental?

Of course. But I am trying to grow out of a space where I am image conscious. I just want to shake it off. I feel an image is a creeping jail growing all around you without you even realising it. Suddenly, you are trapped and an actor should never be trapped.

Whatever takes your fancy you should do it without worrying what will people think. Otherwise, you will get stuck, like how some get stuck in a lover boy image, or in an action image. It takes them years to break out of it. 

Tell us about your role in Krrish 3. You are playing a negative role after a long time.

Playing Kaal for me was an incredible opportunity. I got this bolt-out-of-the- blue call saying that Guddu uncle (Rakesh Roshan, the director of the film) wanted to meet me.

When I went there, I was made to read the script of Krrish 3, which was the most awaited sequel in this country. I grabbed a corner, sat there and in an hour I flipped through the entire script.

I was completely blown by it and when I told him I really liked it, he said would you like to play the role of Kaal? I couldn’t thank him enough.

Duggu uncle told me that he wrote the character keeping me in mind, which was the biggest thing for me. Its like a once in a lifetime opportunity.

How did you prepare for the character?

I can’t talk about the character much but I did a lot of pre-shoot preparation. I worked on that character for three to four months because I had to get into the psychology of the character which isn’t similar to mine at all. He is not similar to any human at all.

The first thing I did was write an entire autobiographical sketch on him till where the film begins, to understand the genesis of this character. What experiences brought him to this degree of hate?

It was interesting exploring him because if Krrish is light, he is the darkness. How did he get there? I think revenge is an extremely potent and powerful weapon and hatred is more powerful sometimes than love.

What is that one superpower that you would like to have if given a chance?

I think that I already have it--the ability to make my child smile.