Vijay Varma, one of the most compelling and quietly transformative actors of his generation, is stepping into a new chapter, one that audiences have been eagerly waiting for. After years of owning complex, conflicted and emotionally layered characters, the actor is now being embraced with a new tag from fans, the lover boy era.
On being given the lover boy tag, Vijay shares how that seeds were planted subtly before in Jaane Jaan alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan. He said, “Yes, there were two small soft launches, one was an action soft launch and the other was a romance soft launch,” he laughed. “But this (in Gustaakh Ishq) is a full-fledged romance… there is romance in the film, not just one pair. There’s romance in the air. The way people speak, there is a lot of poetry, a lot of sweetness and charm. The world is set in a time where it’s like visiting our parents’ wedding album, you know, or our childhood vacation pictures. The feeling that you get, that’s the feeling of the film. So, it’s a warm hot chocolate.”
For an actor known for intensity, grit and emotional sharpness, this turn towards softness and charm marks an exciting pivot. Yet even as he evolves on screen, Vijay’s perspective on success is evolving off it. When asked how his definition of success has changed over the years, he said, “Success to me is a luxury to choose what you want to do with your time. And that, I feel like, is the ultimate idea of success for me. That you don’t force a project in any way and can take your own time… that luxury is a by-product of success. Then the other thing is that your responsibility increases a little. I know that if I do what I have done before, if I repeat things, people will not talk about it at all. They will want me to do something new. Because I have set that pattern. This is non-negotiable. I have to present something new, I have to make a new recipe daily.”
With Gustaakh Ishq set to reveal a never-before-seen romantic shade of Vijay Varma, the actor stands at an intriguing intersection, one where artistic evolution and curiosity of the audience meets. And if there’s one thing he has proven through every performance, it’s that each new version of Vijay Varma is always worth waiting for.