Vicky Kaushal on Pressure of Doing Historical Film Takht: Trying to Be As Sensitive As Possible

Actor Vicky Kaushal, will be venturing into historical territory with Karan Johar’s Takht, has said that he always wanted to explore the particular genre and will try his best to stay as much true as possible to his character in the movie. Takht marks Johar’s first attempt at directing a period drama which traces the relationship between Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his brother Dara Shukoh. In the film, Kaushal and Ranveer Singh will play the warring brothers.

Vicky, who plays Aurangzeb in the film, said the team feels a deep sense of responsibility towards history and will try to chronicle it with utmost honesty. “I’ve always wanted to be a part of historical drama. This one is as big as it gets, with a great ensemble cast and Karan helming it. They have their own pressure to make the narrative as true as what’s written in history. For us as performers, the pressure is the same,” Vicky said. Kaushal said that being an actor, the best he could do from his side is sincerely follow the vision of his director and see “what part of the story the filmmaker wants to narrate and stick to that.”

“If I’m playing the character of Prithvi in ‘Bhoot’ and Aurangzeb in ‘Takht’, the emotion has to be honest… We are trying to be as sensitive as possible to what was part of history. We are doing exactly that. Like Karan sir answered earlier that he’s just telling a story that history has already written.”The historical drama also features Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt, Janhvi Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar. Earlier, at the trailer launch of Bhoot, Johar said that he’s always mindful of sensitively representing different religions on screen.

“My sensitivities to religions across the world will always be on point. That’s something I believe as a human being and as a citizen of this great country and the world. Sensitivity to everyone and everything is something we take very deep care of. Takht is not a story I wrote. History wrote that story. I am only telling it,” Johar told reporters. Vicky will soon be seen in a horror movie Bhoot-The Haunted Ship, directed by Bhanu Pratap Singh. The film is scheduled to release on February 21. Apart from Bhoot and Takht, Vicky also has Shoojit Sircar’s biopic on Udham Singh in his kitty. The film traces the life story of the revolutionary who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, who was the Governor of Punjab when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in 1919. The movie marks Kaushal’s first collaboration with Sircar, who has directed Vicky Donor (2012), Piku (2015) and October (2018).