Where are the congratulatory phone calls from the industry, wonders Sahil Vaid. When we speak, it’s been over five days since Badrinath Ki Dulhania released. Reviews have been mixed, but the box office verdict is unambiguous — it’s a hit.
And Vaid, who plays Somdev, the dependable, affable, and frequently hilarious sidekick, to Varun Dhawan’s Badrinath, is basking in the universal acclaim his acting has received. It’s perplexing then that his phone is not yet ringing off the hook.
Bollywood dreams
“I wish I could say I have a number of films lined up, but I don’t,” says Vaid. A film that he shot in 2012 — Y-Films’ long-delayed Bank Chor — is due for release this year, but he is yet to find new acting work. In between, he acted in the little-remembered Bittoo Boss (2012) and, of course, essayed the role of Poplu in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), a stepping-stone to Somdev: a role that he claims was written for him. “It’s scary. I’ve received so much critical acclaim for this role, but where are the new roles? I want to be a star. I need stardom so I can do more work,” he says.
Vaid knows, in no uncertain terms, that failure can be fatal. Especially for outsiders trying to make it in Bollywood like him. The actor was born in Salem, Tamil Nadu, and early childhood was spent in a “jungle” teeming with wildlife, where it was common to spot snakes. In 1997, when he was about 11, his family moved to Delhi, uprooting Vaid from his familiar surroundings and thrusting him into a fiercely competitive city.
Armed with little knowledge of Hindi — that too Tamil-tinged — Vaid found succour in acting in Class VI. Every day after school, he discovered and thrilled in the adventures of professional theatre. Vaid attended college in Haryana pursuing media studies, while simultaneously doing theatre in Delhi. Acclaimed in the theatre circuit by then, he started conducting workshops too.
In 2007, Vaid came to Mumbai to study acting at Whistling Woods International after the Film and Television Institute of India declined to offer him a spot in their acting course. It’s where he met Shashank Khaitan, a senior who directed Vaid in Humpty and Badri . Fate appeared to take a giant leap when he became the first actor to sign a film while studying in the institute. After all, Whistling Woods does not allow students to work on films while studying there, but Vaid found a loophole by shooting for the film at night. Fresh out of the institute, he also signed Fauji 2, a sequel to the 1989 television show starring Shah Rukh Khan. Five episodes were shot. But eventually, both projects were shelved. The wind was taken out of Vaid’s sails.
For the love of theatre
Theatre came to his rescue once more. He joined a Naseeruddin Shah production The Caine Mutiny Court Martial when an actor playing the role of a psychiatrist left to shoot a feature film. Now, Shah is one of Vaid’s chief mentors. “I’ve been a part, and want to be a part of every play that he produces,” says the actor. “It doesn’t matter if I’m not acting in it. I can do projection, lighting, anything at all.” Shah’s is the ideal career according to Vaid: a complete package of work in theatre and films.
When his acting prospects appeared bleak, Shah brought Vaid back from a potential career in the Indian Army, commissioned through the Short Service Board. “I had cleared everything, and got the commissioning letter as well. But sir called my father, and told him to knock the stupid idea out of my head,” he says. It hasn’t been an endless struggle though. For one, his theatre career has been thriving since he started working with Shah and other productions. “I will never give up theatre,” he insists. “When I am 80, nobody will take me in movies, even though I might be able to act. Theatre is going to be my bread and butter and quench my thirst for creativity.”
Plus, it’s not entirely true that Vaid has no upcoming releases. As an in-demand dubbing artist, Vaid is the voice of The Beast in the Hindi dubbed version of the Disney musical Beauty and the Beast. He was also the voice of Tom Hiddleston in Kong: Skull Island. “I’ve dubbed for over 400 films, and am fluent in Hindi, Punjabi, and Tamil,” he says. The turning point in his dubbing career, he remembers, was working for Final Destination V under the direction of Eliza Lewis, the renowned dubbing director. “I think it made me a better actor as well — looking at all these great actors and then re-creating their emotions through my voice.”
Getting in character is something Vaid appears exceptionally good at, and slightly tetchy about too. “I don’t understand this distinction between character actors and lead actors. Do they not play characters too?” he wonders. There’s a well-established bias — that’s changing, but far too slowly — against character actors, he says. They get paid less, receive fewer opportunities, and are not as respected despite working just as hard to essay a role. “It might change if we change the supporting actor award to character actor and non-character actor award.”
Why fame is funny
Vaid has a point: he has more scenes and dialogues in the film than Alia Bhatt, and is, arguably, the star turn of the film, effortlessly endearing himself to the audience. As he prepares to leave, he is mobbed by a group of teenagers who have just walked out of a show of Badrinath Ki Dulhania , and recognise him. Fame is strange, he says. “I came to Mumbai to be a leading star. I was fit, had a six-pack but I didn’t get anything. I put on weight and grew my hair for this role, and now it feels like I’m a star.”