Class Act - Episode 2
Vikrant Massey’s surreal take on what social media takes
away from an actor’s life and all that he does to remain humble.
After debuting with ‘Lootera’ and ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’, Massey’s career skyrocketed due to his sincere approach towards work. Vikrant Massey continued to remain grounded to his roots even while speaking of his immense success on the second episode of Rajeev Masand’s ‘Class Act’. Following Shefali Shah’s revealing interview in the first episode, ‘Class Act’ has now tapped on another less spoken about yet immensely talented actor, Vikrant Massey, who will soon act alongside Deepika Padukone in their upcoming movie, ‘Chhapak’. Continuing the comfortable flow of familiarity in his tone, Masand hosted Episode 2 at True Tramm Trunk, Juhu where the two spoke about Massey’s incredibly humble journey in the film industry over two glasses of juice.
As Masand tapped on Massey’s many milestones which have seen him grow as an actor, somewhere the show managed to highlight the actor’s idealistic approach towards his art. What can be perhaps termed as the most significant moment on the show, Massey speaks of his concern about social media influencers taking over artistes who are the true craftsman of their art. He narrated an incident where he had witnessed directors chucking out potential actors for their sheer lack of followers on Instagram, and that was enough for Massey to be a little disturbed at the upcoming generation of actors. As someone who is not very active on Instagram, the 32-year-old likes to pat himself for garnering approximately 280,000 followers on the social media platform.
He said, about his followers, “It’s not bad at all. I really pat myself on the back when I sit with my team, and you know...288, you know organically not bad.” However, he continues to remain a little concerned although he does not entirely discourage the idea of bringing in someone with a massive social media following. It can be said that social media presence should not be a problem for an actor who was critically praised for his performance in the 2016 movie, ‘A Death in the Gunj’. Written and created by Konkona Sen Sharma, the film is an interesting tale about a shy college student who finds himself amid a menacing case when he goes out on a holiday with his self-involved relatives. As much as the tale itself was intriguing, Massey’s portrayal of the shy Shyamal Chatterjee quickly made him a prominent face in the industry, and earned him a Filmfare Awards nomination in the category of Best Actor – Critics.
The two soon speak about Massey’s most revolutionary performance as Aditya Sharma in the web series, ‘Criminal Justice’. A gritting tale about false accuses in a murder case; Massey managed to give the audience enough reason to sympathize with the boy who barely had any idea about the murder that took place. The performance might be a reminder of his character Shyamal in ‘A Death in the Gunj’, and in both cases Massey had delivered a performance where his character was more present than he as an actor. He mentioned that he has a habit of getting involved with the audio-visual medium rather quickly. He said, “so I refrain a bit, so that I am not influenced. It is in my inherent nature.” Massey made it pretty clear that he does not like to be influenced by the performance of some other actor although he certainly seeks inspiration.
Massey ended with a note which can only be concluded by the idea of his humility. In spite of being a gifted performer who can mould himself into any character he wishes, Massey remains grounded to his roots and does not let stardom affect his work. Watch the latest episode here.
