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Vijay Varma is undoubtedly one of the finest actors in the film industry. He has carved a niche for himself with his brilliant work in Gully Boy, Darlings, Dahaad, and other projects. In a recent interview, he revealed that he tried multiple courses, and several odd jobs before foraying into acting. He also revealed that he used to sell SIM cards at one point, and that it was a very taxing job. While he experimented with several fields, nothing really clicked for him until he discovered his passion in acting and theatre. Vijay Varma Recalls Selling SIM Cards In a conversation with Rhea Chakraborty, Vijay Varma recalled doing several courses, and trying various odd jobs before stepping into acting. “I must have done around 5 different courses. Software engineering course, event management course. Of course, I did B.Com. I did all kinds of different things to see what clicks, and nothing did. I trained for 3 months at a call centre training program to work one night at a call centre, and decided this is not for me. Then I worked for a mobile company. I was selling SIM cards. I used to work back then for Idea cellular. I used to go around and sell packages and SIM cards,” said Vijay Varma. He further added, “I used to report to this boss who had a big Nokia showroom. And he would send me to far off places 30-40 kilometre away on a bike in all weather conditions. I was raised like a girl in a very protective Marwari household. So I was in a rough terrain. And as much as I wanted to do something, it was very taxing. And the boss wouldn’t let me have a good time. If I came back with three sales, he’d ask, ‘Where’s the fourth one?’” Mujhe bohot bura lagta tha. One day, I told him, ‘I’ll put up my photo in your Nokia showroom. I’ll become the brand ambassador’. And now, I’ve become successful… but there is no Nokia.” Vijay Varma On Foraying Into Acting Vijay Varma said that he tried several things and nothing really clicked, until he applied at FTII (Film and Television Institute of India). He did not get selected at first, so he did theatre in Hyderabad for a year. “And when I first stepped foot on the stage in a play, I got claps and laughter. And I figured this is nice, I want to do this. So I kept doing theatre on the side, hiding it from my family. College jaa raha hu bolke theatre chala jaata tha. (I would tell them I was going to college, and then go for theatre),” said Vijay. He later got in at FTII. Vijay Varma’s Upcoming Projects Speaking of his professional front, Vijay was last seen on screen in Netflix’s IC814: The Kandahar Hijack, a crime thriller based on the real-life incident of the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999. The series premiered in August last year and featured Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, and Arvind Swamy, among others. Currently, the actor has two projects scheduled for release. First is the upcoming web series Matka King. Produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films, the series dives into the gritty underworld of 1960s Mumbai. The show is set to stream on Prime Video later this year. Secondly, he has the romantic drama Gustaakh Ishq. The film features Fatima Sana Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah, and Sharib Hashmi in lead roles.
