Vijay Varma on playing twisted roles in Darlings and Dahaad: I might get stereotyped but I am not worried

Actor Vijay Varma, who recently visited Cannes Film Festival, has also been getting a lot of appreciation for his web show Dahaad and he tells us how it wasn’t easy to understand the psychology of a psychopath.

Actor Vijay Varma is winning hearts with his performance in the web show Dahaad and the actor is grateful for all the love and adulation coming his way. “I am over the moon with the kind of responses Dahaad has been getting. I’m very proud of the project and its compelling story. We know we’ve created something which is worthy of being loved,” says the actor, who essayed the role of Anand Swarnakar, a psychopath serial killer in the series, also starring Sonakshi Sinha and Gulshan Devaiah.

Vijay Varma on reponse to his latest series Dahaad

While praises continue to pour, the actor confesses he was a bit doubtful about how audiences would react and respond to his twisted and dark character. “I kept thinking what will happen when the series will release and how people will perceive this evil character. And hence, I was pleasantly surprised when it received appreciation from everywhere,” beams the actor, who played a somewhat twisted character in web film Darlings (2022) as well.

Does he not fear getting stereotyped playing such role one after the other? The 37-year-old opines, “I’m sure It’ll leave some impact. And I wouldn’t be surprised if I get typecast and people say, ‘He must be up to something!’ That might happen. But, I’m not worried because I have enough in my arsenal to kind of change that [image and notion] over the years. For now, I was enjoying being deliciously evil.”

That being said, he is quick to clarify that none of these dark characters or projects affected his mental health as is the case with many actors after playing such parts.

“Playing these twisted characters in Darlings and now Dahaad definitely impacted me, but not to the extent that they would take a toll on my mental health. I enjoyed the effects that they create in the audience’s minds,” says the actor, who would next be seen in OTT project The Devotion of Suspect X alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Ask him about the prep that goes into while portraying such challenging parts, and the actor admits it was “quite difficult” to get into the mental space of a psychopath for Dahaad. “The exterior of the personality is fairly easy to understand, but there’s so much happening in your head. Some of the actions, you just don’t understand why would anybody do this? So, it took me some time to understand that aspect,” he explains, adding, “I had a love-hate relationship playing this part because I love the idea of being this mysterious serial killer, but I hated the effects of it.”

In the web space, Varma has earlier been a part of crime thrillers such as She and Mirzapur. Talking of the popularity of the said genre, the actor feels every subject is getting exploited right now.

“We have access to all sorts of content through several streaming platforms in different languages. Crime has always been a fascinating genre for as long as we can think of. As a species, we are obsessed with watching violence or crime, maybe because it constantly exists around us in some form. Having said that, we definitely need more comedies and that too intelligent humour,” wraps up the actor, who visited the recently concludes Cannes Film Festival as a part of the Indian delegation, 10 years after making his Cannes debut for Monsoon Shootout.

Sharing a bit about experiencing the Cannes magic all over again, Varma says, “If I compare Cannes from 2013 to now, it was different in many ways. Earlier, I was a wide-eyed, optimistic, idealistic young actor at the festival. I was like a child in a candy store. And then life happened. It took years for me to find an audience [for my work] and any kind of success to happen. Eventually, enough grinding happened and I came across and found an audience. So, visiting Cannes this year was like a full circle for me. It was a reunion where I met my younger self.”