For his role as a stutterer in Zubaan, Vicky Kaushal sought help from a speech therapist — and he was so enthusiastic that the doctor told him to stop practicing.
The 27-year-old actor’s venture, written and directed by debutante Mozez Singh, is about an ambitious young man’s rise.
Kaushal said he wanted to handle the role of his speech-impaired character, Dilsher, with care and make it as real as possible.
“It was important to make it very natural and real. It was a responsibility because when you are portraying a handicap then you have to be very real about it, you don’t want to hurt any sentiments. It should also not look caricaturist. There was this speech therapist in Pune I used to visit. I used to interact with patients, who shared a lot of technicalities,” he said.
“I was so desperate to get it right that I used to talk with a stutter in front of my family and friends. I just incorporated it in my real life. But then the doctor warned me that one can actually develop a stutter while imitating one and asked me to go easy on it.”
Singh, who has a slight stammer, said the movie is his honest point of view. “I think the film has got many layers. It is more than just the stutter problem. I have a stammer issue sometimes and I used that in the film. I wanted to write something which is very personal. I don’t mean it is my story, but I wanted to write from my heart.”
Zubaan, which was the opening film at Busan Film Festival last year, also stars Sarah Jane Dias. The actress is building her music career, alongside her film career, and has also released a single.
She said the film was creatively very satisfying for her as she got to play a character very close to her real self.
“Zubaan is a special film right from the beginning. When I met Mozez after the audition process, it dawned on me that I am going to play the personification of music in the film. As a musician it was dream come true.
“The film is like a passion coming together with what I do for a living. I think it a real blessing if you get to do that. A lot of it came effortlessly. I am happy it was entirely creatively satisfying.”
Both leads have successful film pasts; while Kaushal was in Masaan, Jane Dias was part of the Angry Indian Goddesses project. Singh hopes that Zubaan will benefit from their previous success.
Zubaan will release on March 4 in India.
