Bollywood star Vedang Raina talks 'Jigra', box office struggles, and working with Alia Bhatt

Bollywood actor Vedang Raina, who shone as the younger sibling of Alia Bhatt in the prison-break drama Jigra, may be just two films old, but his pragmatic take on handling box office failures belies his lack of conventional experience.

“It is disheartening, for sure. But I know the intentions behind this project were so pure. I may be biased but I think this was Alia Bhatt's best performance till date in her career,” Raina said in an interview with Gulf News.

According to reports, Jigra—a prison-break drama directed by Vasan Bala featuring the sibling duo played by Bhatt and Raina—collected Rs500 million globally, which wasn’t ideal. However, the reviews were mostly favorable, especially regarding the lead pair’s performances.

But Raina,24, isn’t solely focused on the numbers. He believes that every film has its moment and will find its audience.

“I’m still figuring out the logistics and collections,” he says with a hint of humility, “but I know we want to reach a wider audience.”

For him, it’s all part of the game. His way forward?

“It's a part of our journey ... We just have to keep going and moving.”

In his latest movie 'Jigra', Raina -- who made his debut with Netflix film 'Archies' -- plays Ankur who's imprisoned for carrying drugs on his person. He's facing death row in a prison in South East Asia, but his fierce elder sister, played brilliantly by Bhatt, swears to save him by coming up with an audacious plan to extricate him from a high-security jail. 

Here are excerpts from our chat with Raina as we discuss his rising career, being labelled India’s newest crush, and his working dynamic with a seasoned star like Bhatt: 

Jigra was a raw and searing film, and it reminded me of Alan Parker’s Midnight Express, where an American student is sent to prison in Turkey for carrying drugs…

Yes, I have seen it. It was one of the films that Vasan [Bala, director] told me to watch.

You play this helpless and vulnerable younger sibling … How did you go about your role?

It was mostly to do with the writing, and half the job was already done for me. But I'd like to think I have some sort of a process. I'm only two films old, and I'm finding my process with the films that I'm doing. But for Jigra, it was just a different approach from what I did in the first one in Archie. In terms of research, I saw a lot of documentaries of inmates who were on death row. It's a unique situation to be in. As an actor, I can never actually feel that emotion, right? I can't access that without seeing or drawing from people who have experienced being in prison in a foreign country. Apart from that, we did a couple of workshops before the film’s shooting began, and I tried to find out what my character was like. I found Ankur, close to who I am as a person, which helped. Reggie, the character that I played in my first film Archie, was very far from who I am as a person.

You said that you saw a lot of movies and series. Was it more Orange is the New Black, or are we looking at Shawshank Redemption?

I haven’t seen OITNB, but I saw Midnight Express. I also watched this film in which Sylvester Stallone is in jail. I can't remember what the film was called, but it was a fun watch. I watched Shawshank Redemption again. I just need any excuse to watch that film. Gumrah was one of the other films that I saw because it dealt with jailbreak. It’s one of those rare Hindi films with jailbreak in them.

You acted alongside Bhatt in your career’s second film. Playing siblings is a different dynamic than playing lovers on the big screen. You both need to look convincing as the sister-brother duo who have each other’s backs…

I was intimidated by her before the filming began. I was worried that Alia is a big star, and I am just a newcomer. What if I [expletive] this up? I put that pressure on myself, but I realized on the first day of shoot that she’s the nicest person ever. She will make you feel more important than you actually are. She made it easier for me. I felt like we were just two actors trying to collaborate and do something good. Half of it is in the writing, right? The writing kind of dictates how we behave as characters, and good writing made it easy for us. We also formed a nice friendship, which translated on camera in a nice way. Siblings are a lot like friends, or at least that’s the equation I have with my real sister. I wouldn’t ever go up to her and praise her or shower her with love. There’s an unsaid kind of love, and we’ll be roasting each other on most days. It was nice to form that friendship with Alia, and she's just such a good actor. It's so easy to feed off of her while doing scenes with her.

Ever since Jigra released, you have been labelled as India’s latest crush. How do you perceive such labels?

It's flattering to see people compliment you in any way, right? But I don’t look or call myself any nation’s crush, but I find it cool when people say that. I realize that I'm too new and have too much to do to start believing in these things so quickly. It's nice to see people appreciate me, but I don't take these labels too seriously either. If I do, I’ll feel like I’ve already made it, which I haven’t. So, yeah, it's still nice for people to be saying all these nice things.

Jigra delves into childhood trauma, like witnessing a parent’s suicide. How did you and Vasan Bala approach these themes and ensure the characters' bond felt so intimate, as if they only have each other…

Yeah, we spoke a lot. I might have been annoying to my director because I asked a lot of questions. I wanted to know what Ankur was like and what his relationship with his dad was when he was alive, or what he saw in his mom, and where she went. A lot of that came up. But the essence was that Ankur and Satya [Alia Bhatt] only have each other. That was the most important takeaway: his sister is his only family, and that’s a unique place to be. Their bond isn’t a regular sibling relationship—she’s his mother, father, everything, especially as the elder one.

My favorite scene with you was when you told your sister, 'It's not a summer camp. I didn't make new friends in jail'. It added a great comic touch in a grim scenario. What was the most challenging scene for you? Was it the breakdown on the boat?

Many scenes were challenging. The interaction between Ankur and Satya when she visits him in prison for the first time, where their fingers touched through that glass, was challenging because it was the first time I was doing a scene where I was being so vulnerable. I was crying on camera, and that was a scary thought. I was worried about how it would go. The scene where I get the lashing by another inmate, Ryan, was tough too. I was hit for real. But I didn’t say anything because it was such an emotional scene.

I always thought that actors were precious and were always insured?

I'm not entirely sure, but in action scenes, it's almost a given that someone’s going to get hurt—you’ll usually see some blood. It’s never intentional, though, and the team always prioritises safety. But mishaps can happen. In one scene, they attached me to a wooden structure, and the way the shot was framed, you couldn’t see the lashes. The actor used a real wooden cane—something solid enough to break bones if it hit you. We did one take for all 15 lashes, and around the second or third lash, I got hit. I felt it, but I didn’t want to stop because of the adrenaline. By the time the scene was over, I didn’t even realize what happened until I lifted my shirt and saw blood. He must have connected twice, but weirdly, I didn’t feel much pain at the time. It’s like how boxers don’t feel the pain during a match, and only realize it the next day. In my head, I was thinking, 'This is my DiCaprio moment,' like when he broke the glass in Django Unchained and kept going. I didn’t even feel it at the time, but there was blood, and it looked pretty nasty.

Like they say, no guts, not glory ... Some actors naturally come across as kind and youthful, and you’re definitely one of them. Do you think this has impacted the way audiences connect with your characters?

It's a better spectrum to be in, but I’m not really sure why. You can’t control how you come across to people as actors. Who you are as a person always shows, whether on or off camera, no matter how much you try to put on a front. I realized that early on, especially after talking to veterans in the industry like Vasan Bala. They told me that there’s no point in pretending because it won’t last, and people will see through it eventually. That was some solid advice. So, I just focus on being myself. I don’t know how people perceive me, but my goal is to keep working hard and doing a good job. If I keep improving, everything else will follow.

Don't Miss It!

'Jigra' is out in UAE cinemas now