First Salman, Now Modi: Vivek Oberoi Looks Again In The Abyss

Life In Plastic

In the fall of 2009, Vivek Oberoi was found on Tere Mere Beach Mein a talk show hosted by Farah Khan for Star De Plus

"You Know the Tupperware manufacturer? ", said Oberoi. "How much plastic do they have? Our film industry has a lot, a lot more than that. Plastic smiles and plastic hearts.

Oberoi referred to what remained, even decades later, Bollywood's most famous beef, the kind of fight that reaches mythical heights, the kind of fallout that ends a career and becomes a uplifting story, a metaphor for what happens when you make a mistake with Bollywood's chief despot, a revered man as much as he fears him.

The incident that Oberoi spoke about occurred in March 2003, when he held a press conference, alleging that Salman Khan had called him. 41 times and threatened to kill him. Khan was angry because Aishwarya Rai, his former girlfriend, had cast her after mistreating her.

In an interview, Rai said, "It sometimes happened that Salman became physical with me, thankfully without a trace. And I would go to work as if nothing had happened. "

Rai had recently started dating Oberoi, and Khan, like any other superstar, had gone mad.

At the time, Oberoi was on a dazzling start. It was a sensation. It was the next big thing.

The previous year, his first film, Ram Gopal Varma's company had opened at the box office and Oberoi was unanimously praised for his performance as Chandu. who ended up overthrowing the lord of the band, Mallik, who recruited him and guided him.

In front of Ajay Devgn, Oberoi had held his own. On screen, he cleared the sturdy magnetism that makes gangsters hot. He soon appeared in Road followed by Saathiya by Shaad Ali, a Yash Raj Films production that catapulted him to the coveted Bollywood A list and also established like a romantic hero.

However, Oberoi would soon learn that it's much easier to topple a crowd leader on the screen than to fight against the self-styled industry godfather, Salman Khan.

At his press conference on Salman Khan, Oberoi was essentially opposed to a violent man. – Oberoi said – harbaded him and his partner.

Maybe today, 16 years later, he may have found a more receptive audience.

But in 2003, he simply disappeared.

banned. People called and said, "Oh, you made the right choice." But the work stopped coming, "Oberoi told Farah Khan, adding that some people said they wanted to work with him, but could not because they wanted to stay in Salman Khan's good books. "Producers have asked me to return their signature amounts. I was laughed at at award ceremonies and parties. I had to start all over again. No zero, but less.

Oberoi lost his career and lover.

In an interview, Oberoi stated that the person who pushed him to do so also started to keep a distance, referring to Rai.

As he said in an interview with Farah Khan in 2009.

"She never appreciated me for what I did," he said about Rai, stopping like he was still struggling with the ghosts of his past. "Never."

All Bhakt Up

Oberoi seemed to be an unusual choice when the Modi biopic was first announced. But in his conversation with HuffPost India it seems that Oberoi is actually a little bhakt .

He parrots the achievements of the Modi government as he has since studied them. a university viva. Any criticism of Modi – integration of hatred, escalation of community violence, killings of activists and intellectuals and journalists, systematic destruction of institutions – is refuted by a speech prepared with the fervor of violence. a sermon.

At the end, electric vehicles arrived, gasoline subsidies were reinstated, there was a mbadive infrastructure development, nearly 37 km of roads built per day, which is unprecedented in the history of independent India. All this, would you say to Hindutva? "

It is quite obvious that the conscientious actor that he is, Oberoi is familiar with his scenario and is ready with his lines.

When asked why the film had been so devoured by the Prime Minister, Oberoi looked honestly, Oberoi sought the moral foundation and remained there throughout the interview.

"I do not have the right to say to Huffington Post what their publisher

" No one in a democracy has the right to say, "No, no, you must take this, "he continued.

"If I make a film that is an inspiring journey, I choose what I think will inspire," he concluded.

His answer is not very different from the one he used frequently in the studios when reporters asked him if he wanted to influence the elections. His responses were quickly cut into short clap-back videos by social media cells of the Bharatiya Janata party and posted on a network of Facebook pages that the party openly and secretly maintains.

"We live in a time when instant judgment is made faster. Instant coffee, "continued Oberoi, repelling his suggestions that he was essentially a BJP stooge pushing a movie to help Modi win the election. "People do not bother to read and educate, but everyone has an opinion."

Bhai Troubles

The arc of stuttering of Oberoi's film career has always been discussed and studied in Bollywood. Consider this as a filmed version of the Harvard Business School case study.

The problem: Has Salman Khan really ended Oberoi's career, or has Oberoi ended Oberoi's career?

For Oberoi, the answer is clear.

"I was put away from the movies and threw away projects. It's a reality in our industry and it's not that I, many others have experienced the same thing, "he told HuffPost India. "So, either you separate, or you become unbreakable. I chose this last one. "

The answer is not that theoretical. These are good things to know in an industry that relies almost entirely on back-scratching.

Everyone agrees: Vivek Oberoi is a talented actor.

When Ram Gopal Varma saw for the first time pictures of Oberoi, thank you. to his father, Suresh Oberoi, who worked with Varma on the film, Pyaar Tune Kya Kia and who insisted that Varma throw him, he knew that he had found his Chandu – the character that Oberoi had played in his first film Company .

"I met him and he showed me an excerpt that he had recorded on a VCD," recalled Varma in an interview with HuffPost . "It was a scene without dialogue. Only emotion. It was good.

Oberoi, though, in an interview with Hindustan Times, stated that he had met Varma alone because he wanted to be "a full-fledged actor, so I told him (his father) that I will do it. I like to pbad my fight. According to Oberoi, he went to Varma's office pretending to be "Vivek Anand", asked for an audition, stayed in slums and slept on the streets for 15 days, and took on the role of Chandu.

The first day of filming in Versova, Andheri, Oberoi was a knockout.

"My producer Boney Kapoor was on the set. Oberoi was doing the opening scene of the film. His burning intensity made everyone speak. It was magnetic on the screen, a stellar presence, "recalled Varma. "He was a model actor at a time when such techniques were no longer as well known today."

Oberoi then filmed several critically acclaimed films, such as Mani's Ratnam Yuva (2004). [Shootout by Apoorva Lakhia at Lokhandwala (2007) and Omkara by Vishal Bhardwaj (2006), all films presenting an ensemble cast.

"He Was Such A Committed Actor That He Would Never Feel Lack Of Security In A Multi-Starrer" , recalled Rensil D & # 39; s Silva, who directed it in Dharma Productions Kurbaan (2009). "Always at the hour, would know his lines and happily give multiple variations for the same scene. The coach of the dialogue who worked with him to make sure that he had the American accent for Kurbaan told me that she did not Had seen anyone who wanted to learn. "

Karan Anshuman, who had directed Oberoi in Inside Edge (2017), the Amazon series presented as his" return, "said," When I first met him , his intellect has blown me in. It's great to talk with him.He can talk about anything from the art of rebirth to German Impressionism because it is extremely read. "

For Inside Edge Anshuman stated that Oberoi had no qualms about playing a negative character and that he was more than pbadionate

" Inside Edge was the first web series in India and many actors were not very good at making streaming shows. He did. He was excited by the idea of ​​choosing a new medium, "said Anshuman, adding that Oberoi was so mastering his art that he understood the most" vague "director's instructions, which reflected the one he exercised on his art.

It was not without problems and there were many.

"He's a complicated man. Or at least, it was, "said a writer-director badociated with one of Oberoi's films, adding that he was surprised to meet Oberoi on the set and listen to it. brag about the size of his tail.

"He was very successful at that time. Maybe after the work stopped spinning him, he started to behave, "said the filmmaker.

Another director, close badociate of Oberoi, spoke about his problem of attitude. An industry insider said that Oberoi had a reputation for being embarrbading in the early 2000s.

"He acted as if he knew more than anyone else. This is singularly the reason, badociated with bad choices, that Oberoi could not maintain the record of its beginnings. The actors tend to do something other than what they are really good at doing.

Varma, who shot several films with Oberoi, believes that the wrong choice of Oberoi [19659004] "I strongly advise against Kyun … Ho Gaya Na ," said Varma about the 2004 duet involving Oberoi, alongside his girlfriend of the time, Aishwarya Rai.

"He had a robust personality and a heavy voice. He should have capitalized on that – the masculinity of the old world – and not on the sweet romantic dramas. It had the potential to go beyond the masala. It could have been his niche, but people are usually engrossed in themselves and they do what they want to do, "said Varma, adding," I myself am like that. "

In addition to the films chosen by Oberoi, the films that he released.

Between 2003 and 2010, Oberoi saw himself offering several expensive films, which he refused for various Reasons A filmmaker stated that after Company Oberoi had been offered to Munnabhai MBBS and that he had even created workshops for the film.But a few days before filming, he backed off.

"Rajkumar Hirani was not big enough for him," he said.

Oberoi had a different version. "I wanted to do Munnabhai, I said yes, but fate wanted it to be a Sanjay Dutt movie." I could not adjust my dates, "he said to HuffPost India .

Not only in Munnabhai, Oberoi was seen proposing several other projects that he had

In 2006, Farah Khan, a close friend of Salman Khan, proposed him a role in Om Shanti Om which was eventually awarded to Arjun Rampal, Oberoi refused because he did not want to play another negative character.

In an interview for his show Tere Mere Mein Beach Farah Khan told Oberoi: "In his defense, Salman Khan never told me not work with you Not once, no matter what people did, they may have done it by themselves. "

Farhan Akhtar's Rock On (2008), Bunty aur Babli by Shaad Ali by Shaad Ali Hum Tum (2004), all the films that would become blockbusters and that were produced ts by big banners (films Yash Raj, Excel, Vidhu Vinod Chopra) arrived at Oberoi.