Gautam Vig: I was rejected for my ‘firang’ looks

It’s said that if you have a good face, it’s easier to get work in the glamour industry. But, for ‘Naamkaran’ and ‘Tantra’ actor Gautam Vig this feature made him struggle more.

It’s said that if you have a good face, it’s easier to get work in the glamour industry. But, for ‘Naamkaran’ and ‘Tantra’ actor Gautam Vig this feature made him struggle more.

Actor Gautam Vig was recently in Lucknow (Sourced photo)

On his first visit to Lucknow he said, “I wanted to join theatre, but people were not ready to cast me. Many thought I looked like a ‘firang’ guy. They joked that when they will have a script like Romeo-Juliet then they will call me. I took it as a challenge to prove myself. I gave hundreds of auditions, faced rejections but kept learning on the way.”

“Due to your looks, people expect more from you. With unconventional looks you have limited scope and roles in the industry,” he added.

However, his looks got him lot of commercials. “My urban look got me lot of ads with top names in the industry. My first show was ‘Naamkaran’ which had a parallel lead. In ‘Ishq Subhanallah’ I played a negative role followed by ‘Tantra’ and recently ‘Pinjra Khubsoorti Ka’ where I played protagonist’s brother. Now, I’m again playing lead in ‘Agni Vayu’ which is a love story.” He has featured in OTT series ‘Nishedh’ while ‘Social Project’ is in post-production.

Talking about his journey, he said, “Since childhood I either wanted to be a cricketer or an actor. To bunk classes, I used to participate in plays in which I started getting appreciation. In school times, I played state level cricket but did not have support from family. So, I went to Canada for studies.”

He did bachelors in hospitality and masters in human resources. “After college, I was working in a bank. I was earning well but was not happy. Besides, I used to weigh 120 kilograms then. Then I decided to I work hard on myself out and came down to 75 kilograms in nine months. For motivation, I started modeling and finally decided to give acting a chance and came to Mumbai in 2016.”

The Delhite is happy that he took a chance. “I had faith in my qualification and knew I will get a job if I wouldn’t do well. But had I not taken his chance I would had regretted all my life.”