Actor Vivek Oberoi revealed that the entire Bollywood lobby tried to push him down through his career and had stopped offering him films. “I had no work. No films were offered,” he said adding that the lobby that tried crushing his talent is now breaking.
“It is breaking. Look at what Sushant Singh Rajput went through, or so many other kids go through, so much talent gets crushed because it was somebody’s decision, for reasons other than work, to just destroy someone. There is so much power in some people’s hands, there is a God complex, which needs to go,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Indian Express.
He also said that it was inadequate that some people in the industry had been given much power in their hands, so much so that they thought they could destroy someone, could stop him or her from working in the films. ” It’s our fault as an industry that we’ve given that kind of power to them. That pedestal should be given only to talent, new, old, upcoming, established, that is the most important,” he stated.
The actor who was featured in the biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed that he and his family struggled when the Bollywood lobby acted against him and offered no projects. “That was the time I went out and gave a Shootout at Lokhandwala, where I got a lot of praise and won awards. People were saying ‘oh my God, this is amazing!’ and then for one and a half years, I was sitting at home, nobody was coming to me with films, it defies all logic,” he said.
However, he said that he has struggled and had created his name in the industry despite being a second-generation actor. He said that none of the acts by the Bollywood lobby stopped him and his talent from reaching his fans. He lauded the OTT platforms and said that they have liberation from unnecessary paraphernalia that has nothing to do with creativity, talent, or meritocracy.
Vivek was an early adopter of OTT when Bollywood was still dismissive of the media. The actor claims that it was his open-mindedness rather than his foresight that got him there. “I’d say open-mindedness and lack of arrogance, I think. Sometimes we believe hum sab jaante hai, humara hi sahi hai. That comes from a sense of arrogance that you know all, but you should be willing to try something new, you should be willing to say ok, I’ll try and reinvent myself, let me try and experience what this is and that’s what leads you,” he said when asked about the OTT shift.
He further added that he has been following and working in Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu cinema for years before other Bollywood actors realized how impactful South Indian cinemas are. He said that the actors working in South Indian films have commitment, dedication, the honesty which pays them more respect and honor than the Bollywood actors. The actor meanwhile also confessed that he is getting good work in mainstream Hindi cinema too.
The actor from 2017 to 2022 did Inside Edge 1, 2, and 3 (Prime), Dharavi Bank (MX player), and recently worked in Rohit Shetty’s Indian Police Force drama series (Prime). Earlier to that he appeared in several Bollywood films which include Saathiya, Dum, Vivegam, Kaal, Omkara, Mission Istanbul, Prince, and many more.
The actor throughout the interview stood by his opinion that money is just the byproduct of art and that for him it’s ‘pehle Saraswati uske baad mein Lakshmi.’ “I’ve been very particular and very careful. Despite who’s the producer or how big the set-up is, if I don’t get a feeling, I say no. I think I commit my fans who’ve been there for me for 20 years through thick and thin. So, my commitment is that if excellence, at least I try,” he was quoted.
