How Vikrant Massey Became the Most Bankable Face for the Alternate Cinema
Before making his Bollywood debut eight years ago with Lootera, he had already carved a name for him on the small screen. Donning a range of characters, we have seen him transform from the sensitive and reserved teenager in the TV show Dhoom Machao Dhoom (2007) to the charismatic Dev in Lootera and the calculative Bablu Pandit in Mirzapur. Yes, we are talking about Vikrant Massey, the multifaceted actor who has definitely carved a niche for himself in all sorts of cinema and mediums.
Massey, a well-trained dancer, took to the stage at the early age of 7. He landed a show in 2004, Kahaan Hoo Main, which did not go on air. However, that did not create a hurdle for him as shows kept following one after another for him. He made an appearance in Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Prithviraj Chauhan (2006) and the teenage drama Dhoom Machaao Dhoom (2007), which fetched him the limelight.
Shows such as Dharam Veer, Balika Vadhu, V The Serial and Qubool Hai followed, and then he made his transition to films. Although he had limited screen time in his debut film Lootera, it was enough for the versatile actor to garner appreciation from all quarters.
Once he stepped into films, the actor got a wider audience base and an intricate platform to master his craft. After Konkona Sen Sharma’s A Death in the Gunj (2016), he became the talk of the town. The actor was now grabbing eyeballs and rising to be one of the most popular non-mainstream Hindi actors.
Moving forward, he tried his hand at more matured and offbeat scripts which required him to plan out his characters meticulously. His character as the creator of a foundation for acid attack survivors in Chhapaak and a lonely ‘demon’ in the offbeat science fiction Cargo announced that he is here to stay.
While his films were doing well, he simultaneously started to venture into the world of OTT platforms debuting with Rise in 2017. Mirzapur saw his character die in the first season itself but it gave ‘Bablu Pandit’ a permanent place in the contemporary pop culture. He then made an appearance in Made in Heaven, Criminal Justice and Broken But Beautiful.
His back-to-back projects on Netflix had once sparked discussion among fans who once jokingly compared him with Netflix’s omnipresent actress Radhika Apte.
With the audience becoming more flexible and opening themselves to content diversity, actors like Vikrant Massey surely provide a great choice. His adaptability towards his form, the friendly grin and his charm are sure to win many more fans.