14 Phere Actor Vikrant Massey On His Obsession WIth Weddings In Films: ‘ I Am Trying To Fulfil All My Aspirations Through Cinema That I Am Not Able To In Real Life ’-EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
The team of today’s Zee 5 release, 14 Phere—Vikrant Massey, Kriti Kharbanda and director Devanshu Singh—get candid about the film, their perception on marriage and also reveal some secrets
Today, Vikrant Massey and Kriti Kharbanda treated the audience with double the wedding and double the fun in Devanshu Singh’s 14 Phere on Zee 5. The family comedy also features an ensemble cast that includes actors like Vinay Pathak, Gauahar Khan, Jameel khan, Yamini Das and Vineet Kumar, and tells the story of a couple, Sanjay and Aditi, played by Vikrant and Kriti respectively, who lie to their parents about each other’s families to get them to approve their marriage.
In an exclusive conversation with Spotboye.com, Vikrant, Kriti and Devanshu get candid about the film, their perception on marriage and also reveal some secrets. Read excerpts from the interview:
Vikrant, in Ginny Weds Sunny, you were obsessed with marriage. In Haseen Dilruba, you were again really eager to get married and now in 14 Phere, you are getting married twice. Is this like a warm up for real life or why are your choices heading mostly towards marriage and weddings?
Vikrant: I am probably trying to fulfil all my aspirations through cinema that I am not able to in real life. Whatever isn’t happening in reality, I am doing it all in front of the camera.
Kriti, even you have a weird record with weddings. In Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana, you had two weddings and here again you are getting married twice. Is this like a clause in your contract that if there is a wedding in script, there has to be two of them?
Kriti: I have been given the tag of ‘The Bride of Bollywood’. I have been a bride so many times that my look book can be released now. But as long as my films are getting successful and being a hit, I am happy with that.
Devanshu, you found your Sanjay and Aditi in Vikrant and Kriti, but how was their off-screen chemistry that you observed?
Devanshu: It was a lot of fun. They would be singing, playing and doing all kinds of things, spending so much time together. It was like a happy family. These two characters are more of conspirators than lovers. They have fallen in love already before the start of the film, they are just conspiring to have two weddings. I even told the cameraman that when people look at these two together, they should look like Chiku-Miku (Laughs).
Vikrant, you are probably the actor with the most OTT releases in the last year. You have had five films released on OTT in just the last nine months or so. How has your experience with the medium been?
Vikrant: It’s been fantastic and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. But I am genuinely not someone who really focuses much on the medium as I have probably tapped into all possible mediums by now. I have done everything except nukkad naatak.
Kriti: That you do off the set (Laughs).
Vikrant: Medium is something I don’t really focus on. I am an actor but also a storyteller, so my priority has been to associate myself with a good story. I pick stories that resonate with me, which I also believe will have a good connection with my audience. I have to respect my audiences and consider them equally intelligent. Gone are the days when you had to spoon feed things to the audience. OTT has also shrunk the world and it’s all there with the click of a button. It’s a great opportunity and I want to make sure I utilise that and tell great stories.
Usually in such family films, it’s the family that shines out. Devanshu, who do you think will be a revelation in the film?
Devanshu: My wish is that everyone on the team has their own revelation. I want people to find a revelation in each actor and their portrayal. My bet is on all my horses. I know they have done a great job. I am satisfied and I enjoy seeing them on screen.
Vikrant and Kriti, you got a very young, even though fake, mom in Gauahar. Were you surprised or shocked when you first saw her in the prosthetics?
Vikrant: On the first day of shoot of our film, we were shooting for a train sequence at the Kamalistan Studios. Gauahar was in the prosthetics for that sequence, so slowly we got used to seeing her in that attire, even though we know she is a young and gorgeous woman.
However, one day, we were shooting in a home at Madh Island for a get together scene and it had been about 20-25 days of shoot already. For that scene, Gauahar wasn’t in the get up and she walked on the set as the gorgeous Gauahar Khan that she is. I was just sitting there when she just walked by me from behind and my heart just skipped a beat. My heart actually skipped a beat as my mind had formed that image that she was Mataji, she was Zubina. But when I saw Gauahar as herself, my heart skipped a beat as she was so pretty. It was like a proper trolley shot for me.
Kriti: Even I said the same thing that night. The biggest compliment for Gauahar, according to me, is the extent to which she immersed herself in the character. We knew that she was playing this character and will be in prosthetics, but when she joined us in Lucknow on the third or fourth day of shoot, she was just standing there in the mom's make up and my make-up artist asked me who is playing this mother, as she did so well. That is a very big compliment and I have to say this, that not just in appearance but she also put her all in also getting the diction right for her character. We have seen her in Rocket Singh and be extremely sexy, but this film will bring out a very different Gauahar. After this film, people will take notice of the actor in her.
Devanshu, you shot the film in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Lucknow. Will we see all the cultures of these cities in 14 Phere?
Devanshu: One part is true and one is not in that question. Just like Sanjay and Aditi, even we lied a little. Due to Covid, we could shoot only in Lucknow and Mumbai, and both the locations are not in the story. The story is set in Bihar and Jaipur. But we will see the culture of these locations that we couldn’t go to. The flavour of those places got so much at one time that some people in the team even asked zyaada to nahi ho raha (Laughs). But today, a lot of people are calling and telling me after watching the trailer, that the location seems so familiar. And to get that right was so important otherwise it becomes the same wedding film.
Vikrant, do you think that you are getting to explore your dance capabilities through these commercial films?
Vikrant: Not yet, to be honest. There are only two films where I have got the opportunity to dance. The first in Ginny Weds Sunny and now here in the song Chamak. Me and my team are actually fishing for an out and out dance story. Such scripts aren’t coming to me yet, I don’t know why. But if someone can hear this, I want to dance more.
Vikrant and Kriti, have the complications of marriage in your films affected your perception towards that institution in real life or the reel-life excitement of the happy ending made you more excited for it?
Kriti: I actually feel nothing as I am just doing my work. We will discuss this with our family at home, don’t give them ideas (Laughs).
Vikrant: Neither for me. We know this is our job and I have told this to myself very clearly that my private and professional life are different. There is no effect of the latter onto the former.
Kriti: If it actually has an effect, that would be a problem (Laughs).
Image source: SpotboyE archives, Instagram/deva_stating/gauaharkhan
Image source: SpotboyE archives, Instagram/deva_stating/gauaharkhan
