Vijay Varma says Bollywood boxed him as 'friend giving high five to hero', sat idle with no work after going to Cannes

Vijay Varma recalled his early years as an actor before Gully Boy's success made him popular and in demand.

Vijay Varma found success belatedly in his career. The actor, who once flew on a charter plane with Amitabh Bachchan, endured periods of no work before Gully Boy changed everything for him. In a new interview, the actor recalled those days of struggle.

Vijay Varma is gearing up for the release of his new show, Matka King.

Vijay Varma on sitting idle after going to Cannes

Vijay is currently awaiting the release of his Prime Video series, Matka King. During the promotions, he spoke to news agency PTI, recalling how he sat idle even after doing a film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. “The first festival that I went to was Cannes with my film Monsoon Shootout, before anything had been released. I could not have done a bigger dhamaka (blast) than this, but after this, I was sitting idle for many years,” Vijay said.

A Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) graduate, Vijay appeared in small roles in Pink, Raag Desh, Manto, and Middle Class Abbayi, before he got his break with a small but talked-about role in Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy. However, even the success saw him fighting typecast.

‘I'm bigger than this’

“From not having any work to doing smaller roles and then being restricted to them, it was hard to break out and do anything that is not a small part or not a friend who is giving a high five to the hero. Then they offered me a big villain, and they put me in that bracket very strongly. I'm like, 'I'm bigger than this, I can do more, break out of that and do something else.' Every time somebody tries to put me in any kind of a cage or a mould, my tendency is to just break it open,” the actor said.

All about Vijay's new show Matka King

Over the last few years, Vijay has earned acclaim for his work in films and shows such as Darlings, Dahaad, and Mirzapur. He will now play a gambling boss in Matka King, a show inspired by real life

Matka King also features Kritika Kamra, Gulshan Grover, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, and Jamie Lever. The series is produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, Gargi Kulkarni, Ashwini Sidwani, and Ashish Aryan, under the banners of Roy Kapur Films, Aatpat, and SMR Productions. The show releases on Amazon Prime Video on April 17.