Vivek Oberoi says he walked out of Abbas-Mustan film he was supposed to make debut with. Reason? Nepotism

Vivek Oberoi was originally supposed to be launched in an Abbas-Mustan film that his father Suresh Oberoi would produce. However, he walked out of it.

Vivek Oberoi made everyone sit up and take notice of his gangster act in debut film, Ram Gopal Varma’s Company. But did you know that he was originally supposed to be launched in an Abbas-Mustan film? However, he walked out of it as he got it courtesy of his father, veteran actor Suresh Oberoi, but wanted to make it on his own.

Vivek Oberoi made his debut with Company in 2002.

After walking out, Vivek struggled for a-year-and-half and gave several auditions. Finally, he landed a role in Company.

In an interview with a leading daily, Vivek said, “Now, nepotism is a big word, but back in the day, it was very normal for every film guy of the second or third generation to be launched by his dad and for me also, it was the same. Son has returned from New York, let’s launch him--there was this whole setup with Abbas-Mustan. It was all going solid but in the middle of that, I had this crisis of conscience. My dad is my idol and he came in and made it purely on merit, no last name, nobody writing any kind of letters for him. He just auditioned and made it.”

Like Suresh, Vivek wanted to get a film on his own merit. “And the thought I had was that if something goes wrong with this film, my dad's life savings were on the line. And I'd seen a lot of people doing the same thing and going bust. So for me, it was very scary. And I just had these sleepless nights and I went to my dad and said, ‘I can't do the film, I'll struggle like you’, and he said, ‘but I built a platform, so you don't have to struggle!’ A few weeks later, I met Abbas-Mustan, apologised to them saying I will not be doing their film,” he added.

The same year as Company, Vivek was seen in Saathiya, which established him as a romantic hero. He went on to star in films such as Yuva, Masti, Omkara, Shootout at Lokhandwala and the PM Narendra Modi biopic. In 2017, he ventured into the digital space with the Amazon Prime Video series Inside Edge.

Vivek will be seen next in the horror-thriller Rosie: The Saffron Chapter, which he is also co-producing under his banner, Oberoi Mega Entertainment. The film will mark the Bollywood debut of Shweta Tiwari’s daughter Palak Tiwari.