Over food, single malt and cards: Vijay Varma, Anubhav Sinha on bonding with friends and why their validation matters

New Delhi: Food, single malt, films and sometimes just a game of cards. Add a dash of “healthy envy” and that is what discussions with friends are all about for actor Vijay Verma and filmmaker Anubhav Sinha who say they are lucky to be with people whose wavelengths matches their own and whose validation matters. Sinha calls it “serendipity”, the happy happenchance to find himself among like-minded friends and colleagues. Sinha and Varma, both rank outsiders who made a name for themselves in the film industry, have collaborated on Netflix's ambitious retelling of the 1999 Kandahar hijacking incident in the series IC814 The Kandahar Hijack.

Sinha, the director of films such as Mulk and Thappad, counts directors such as Anurag Kashyap, Anurag Basu, Sudhir Mishra, Imtiaz Ali, Hansal Mehta and other contemporaries among his friends. And Darling actor Varma banks on his friends Rajkummar Rao, Jaideep Ahlawat and others from his FTII days. Asked whether they ever wondered how their contemporaries were also doing so well in their lives, Sinha and Varma joked that they audition and become friends only with talented people.

"It is just a coincidence but we also like to be around people who match a certain creative wavelength. I like friends who inspire me to do better... They (Sinha and his friends) are also professional but they discuss things on single malt," Varma told PTI in an interview.

"Food, single malt, wine, films," interjected Sinha.

"I play cards with my friends," Varma said, adding in a lighter vein that there is a bouncer standing on the door of their friendship, who asks before entry, "Talent hai?" Sinha said he has been friends with his group of directors since he began in television in the 80s.

"I think we became friends because we had similar aspirations about what we wanted to do with the medium (showbiz). And if you look at it, we do similar things. When Hansal began on Gandhi, I feel tense because even I wanted to make (a story on) Gandhi and (I know) he will do a great job with it,” he said, referring to Mehta’s upcoming series on the early life of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Similarly, if I do something that Hansal wanted to make then he will also feel, 'Oh Anubhav is making this'. There is this healthy envy amongst us and competition. At least, I have that," the filmmaker added. Varma, who is famous for his chameleon-like ability to transform into characters of different shades, be it Gully Boy, Darlings or the TV series Dahaad, said all his friends from FTII are on a WhatsApp group where they celebrate each other's successes. "My friends like Jaideep, Rajkummar, Sunny (Hinduja) and other who were around me during my FTII days... Some are out there and for some, I am just waiting for the right opportunity for them to get discovered. Having friends is a different thing, maintaining it is different.

"I am so close to my friends that their opinion and validation still matters to me. For example, the moment the trailer for the show came, I put it on my group,” Varma said.

He plays the role inspired by captain Devi Sharan, the pilot of the hijacked plane, in Sinha’s streaming debut. IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is set to debut on Netflix on August 29, and features a talented ensemble in Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra and Patralekhaa.

The filmmaker said initially he was not interested in returning to long-format storytelling but the hijack, which initially seemed familiar but unfolded more thrilling layers during research, needed that medium.

"Twenty-seven years ago when I left TV after Sea Hawks, its face was changing. What TV was trying to say and what we were trying to tell (were different). Not just me, all the directors at the time, Anurag Kashyap, Anurag Basu, Hansal Mehta, Imtiaz, we all used to do TV at the time and but the TV was going in a direction that we organically were out of it. Then there is this phase, if we call OTT like TV, there is space to do new things." Varma was earlier slated to work with Sinha on Thappad in 2020 but the actor is happy that they instead collaborated on the series, which he called a "delightful change of shade" after a series of dark roles.

"There was no second thought (in boarding this project)... It was a dream to work with Naseer sir and Pankaj sir, they have been my heroes when it comes to learning everything that I know about acting," the actor said.

Sinha, too, has been an important part of the wishlist of people that he wanted to work with, Varma said. "I don't try to hard in life. It is just that I want to collaborate with people whose work I admire. I want their light to shine on me." Asked how he managed to convince Shah and Kapoor, brothers-in-laws in real life and two of the finest actors in India, for the series, Sinha said they were just kind people who, like other cast members, trusted the script.

Pahwa has been a part of almost all of Sinha's films and shows since he made his first serial Shikast with Shammi Kapoor in the 90s, Mirza and he collaborated on a music video right after her Miss India competition.

The filmmaker said he is not too worried about the political opinions that are bound to come when the series premieres as he doesn't understand politics.

"People play chess from the side... People are bound to have their opinion. Some see the glass full, some see it half. I see whether I want to drink from that glass or not," he said.

Varma, who is looking forward to varied reactions, described his role, which required him spending most of his time in the cockpit, as a "bit of a learning curve" where he had no co-actors, just a green screen.

"It was just me using my imagination and trying to find the truth and hoping that the camera captures it. But that's the nature of the job. You learn something new, there is always a bit of surprise, shock, fear and uncertainty... I find joy in the middle of these feelings. I was quite happy." The actor also met Captain Devi Saran at a flight simulation centre in Mumbai. He wanted to imbibe the person he was going to play on the screen whether it was his food habits, flying superstitions or details like whether he preferred tea or coffee.

"I figured that he is 'work is my worship' kind of person and that's how I look at my work, it is my everything. Which, I found, was the common ground between us. He has a very pleasant personality, I carried that energy from him," he said.