Manoj Bajpayee made me comfortable on the sets ‘The Family Man’, says debutant Vijay Vikram Singh

A voice over artist and dubbing professional Vijay Vikram Singh, who is a known name in the voicing industry has made his acting debut with recently released web series ‘The Family Man’. Helmed by director duo Raj & DK, the web series garnered a lot of appreciation across the nation.

With rave reviews poured in for the web series, Vijay Vikram Singh, who played role of Ajit was applauded for his performance.

When asked Vijay about his journey of acting debut, he shares, “Being a VO artist and dubbing professional, we do act, but only through our voice. With me, acting happened accidentally. After doing VO’s for 5 long years, I realised that I need to unlearn few things and learn new techniques to enhance my voicing career. I decided to do an acting workshop for the same. My wife was very keen on me to do this workshop so she got me enrolled in one of the acting workshops. Those 3 months of the workshop opened my mental faculties and I started enjoying the process. Luckily, one of the new theatre production was looking for a fresh face with a deep voice for one of their plays. I got cast in that play as Chanakya which was central to the plot. The entire experience of being on stage was so exhilarating that I ended up doing 16 shows of that play and did a few more plays alongside.

But I was only doing plays and occasional ad films. I wasn’t auditioning for anything because VO’s didn’t give me much ideal time, whatever little time I was left with, I would go for my play rehearsals.”

“THE FAMILY MAN happened purely by chance. I met Mr. Mukesh Chhabra on one of the TV shows called INDIA’S NEXT SUPERSTAR, where he was the acting coach and I was doing VO’s for that show and voice coach for the contestants. We had an extensive discussion and he admonished me for never coming to his office for an introduction. He asked me if I would like to audition for a character in a web series. I went for that audition and the next day I was finalised. Mukesh Chhabra is soleley responsible for seeing AJIT in me and auditioning me for the same. I think I will be always grateful to him for this,” he adds.

While Manoj Bajpayee plays the lead in The Family Man as an undercover agent, debutant Vijay Vikram Singh also shared screen space with him, he narrates the experience working alongside Manoj. “It was an absolute delight to work with him. One can learn so much from him as co-actors, and I was lucky that all my scenes were with him. He makes his co actors absolutely comfortable and that is an hallmark of a great actor.”

“The night prior to my first day at the shoot, I could not sleep. I was very nervous because the very first shot was with him only. But all the nerves and butterflies were only till the point I met him. He came on the set and reached out to me immediately. He was informed about my association with BIGG BOSS and that I am the narrator’s voice on the show. He came and spoke so much about BIGG BOSS that once the shot was ready, I had absolutely no nerves at all. I credit my performance to him completely,” he reveals.

Talking his journey ahead, Vijay tells, “I would definitely want to focus more on acting and look to play different charcacters on screen. I was born & brought in Kanpur, UP. A lot of stories are coming from that part of the country these days. Filmmakers are exploring stories from the hinterland and I would definitely want to portray a character from the heartland. I want to bring alive the nuances and intricacies of the charaters from that part of the country.”

He further spills the beans and says, “There are two web series which are releasing next year where I have played small characters. and ofcourse the next season of THE FAMILY MAN would also come next year. Now, that I have gotten busy with doing VO’s for BIGG BOSS 13 since 29th Sep, acting has taken a backseat for the time being. But once the show wraps up in January 2020, I would definitely want to get back on stage as soon as possible. I will continue doing VO’s as that gives me the maximum happiness and that pays my EMIs as well. I would want to do more VO’s for ad films now as well as act in them.”