I'm not judgmental about any character: Vicky Kaushal

Mumbai: He played a simpleton in "Masaan", a singer in "Zubaan" and a drug-addict and policeman in "Raman Raghav 2.0". Vicky Kaushal has given critics and audiences enough reason to call him a versatile actor, and says it helps him that he is not judgmental about the characters he gets to play.

In his last release "Raman Raghav 2.0", Vicky played a dark character named Raghav Singh.

Asked about how he justifies factors like drug abuse and violence in a character, Vicky told IANS: "As an actor, I am not judgmental about any character. From a person who is a murderer to a person who is doing social service -- everybody justifies their action with a reason (based on their individual need)."

"As an actor, I will not be able to perform if I judge them as an individual. The first job of an actor is to believe in the actions of the character rather than judging them as right or wrong. Otherwise, we would not be able to make the character believable on screen."

No wonder then that he managed to make audience twitch and cry with his debut performance in "Masaan" as Deepak, a boy from 'Dom' community, looking for a new life out of cremation ghat; and scared the audience in "Raman Raghav 2.0". 

His other film was "Zubaan" -- which was supposed to be his debut film but was released after "Masaan" -- and failed to make much of an impact. His performance, though, was applauded.

Mulling over it, Vicky said: "Well, each film has its own destiny. I do not analyse too much on the success and failure at this stage of my career because I have just started. Acting is a practicing art and as a performer, I should put my heart and soul while acting. And the rest, I believe in destiny," said the actor.

He is the son of Shyam Kaushal -- one of Bollywood's most celebrated action directors -- but Vicky says neither had he discussed too much about films with his father, nor did he visit film sets often as a child. In fact, he says he had gone to the set of "Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai" as a fan of Hrithik, and ended up getting bored.

"Perhaps that's why it was important for me to work as an assistant director to learn about the process of filmmaking, interact and observe actors and many other factors that one should be aware of, to be a part of film," said Vicky, who even assisted filmmaker Anurag Kashyap for the two-part "Gangs of Wasseypur" series.

As a child, Vicky says he was quite active in performing arts in school and college, and loved watching all the Govinda films.

"I loved him as an actor. He is such an entertainer," said Vicky, who on the contrary has acted only in what many slot as offbeat films. 

"I am here to entertain people as an actor, so I will explore all kind of roles," he said.

After finishing the shooting of debutant director Anand Tiwari's "Love Per Sq Ft", Vicky is currently busy shooting Rajkumar Hirani's directorial project which is a biopic of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt.