EXCLUSIVE: Mozez Singh on launching Vicky Kaushal with Zubaan: Nobody thought of him as an actor before

People remember Mozez Singh as the director of the hard-hitting medical drama Human, starring Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari, and the vivacious personality that appeared on screen as Bhavana Pandey’s friend in the second season of Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives. However, the journey of Mozez Singh started way before as he was actually the director who launched today’s superstar Vicky Kaushal in his film Zubaan. Recently, the director got into an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Bubble where he opened up about being the first director to identify the actor in Vicky Kaushal, the six year gap between his first two projects, coming in front of the camera, Human 2 and the representation of LGBTQIA+ community in Indian showbiz, amidst lots more. Read excerpts from the interview here:

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Why did it take you 6 years to come up with your second directorial after Zubaan?

“There were many reasons for that, one of them being Zubaan not being a commercial success. It was very tough for me to get that film out as nobody knew who Vicky Kaushal was at that point. For the same reason, when it came out, nobody went to see it. When your work isn’t welcomed commercially, things slow down. It was only when Zubaan went on OTT, and fortunately it was on all leading OTT platforms at the same time on one instance, that it was really discovered and that’s when I started getting work. Human came to me 3 years after Zubaan. During that time, I focused on developing my own stuff, including writing 2 scripts. But now, I want to work back-to back. I am dying for it.”

You showed the dark side of the medical world at a time when doctors were being worshipped owing to their work during Covid. How challenging was it for you?

“We were really scared of that because when the show got greenlit, none of it was there. And then, Covid happened and we had just started in the writing room at that time. Suddenly, there was this huge debate on what we were doing and we realised that to provide a balanced depiction, we needed to show that there is good and bad sides of the profession, and that goes for any profession out there.

The series came out during the third wave and what worked in our favour was that there was a resonance between what was happening in the show and the real world. Even though our show wasn’t about Covid, it inhabits in the same world of injections and vaccines. There was some kind of synergy that worked for the show.”

 

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You actually were the first person to discover Vicky Kaushal and his talent. Do you take a little sense of pride in that?

“Yeah. I met Vicky when nobody knew him, when he was an AD on Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs Of Wasseypur. Even those guys didn’t consider him an actor as I remember that when I eventually signed Vicky, everyone was like ‘Oh God, why are you signing him? He’s just an AD.’ And a lot of these people were from Anurag’s camp who were discouraging me from working with him. But I just knew that I had found the guy I was looking for and I didn’t know how to explain it. I auditioned around 400-500 guys, and rejected all of them, but when Vicky came around, I just knew he was my guy. I actually saw him blossom into an actor in front of my eyes. He faced the camera as a leading man for the first time in my film, and after one week of shooting I could see that Vicky Kaushal was born to act.

Masaan was technically his second film that eventually ended up coming first. But it was only after shooting 60-70 percent of Zubaan that Vicky got the confidence to audition for Masaan and blew them away. Nobody thought of him as an actor, everyone saw him as a baby before that. I saw the unveiling of an actor in front of me and it was an amazing experience. People haven’t seen even 20 percent of his talent, I have seen what he is capable of, he is so good.”

 

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This year, you also faced the camera in Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. How was that experience for you?

“It was absolutely terrifying. These girls are very dear friends and they had called me to come in season 1 as well but I said no. They had invited me for the beach clean up portion and I had initially said no for it but I eventually ended up going, and it was about a 5 minute portion that turned out really well. I got incredible feedback for it and they invited me for season 2. But I realised reality TV isn’t working for me because it is nerve-wracking. After a while you forget that the cameras are on and you end up saying everything. What people have seen on the show is just 2 percent of the crazy shit we were talking to each other. Thank God they didn’t put it all up because it was crazy.”

 

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Do you plan to return to acting?

“The one thing is for sure that I never want to act. But being in front of the camera, sure, I can do what I feel comfortable with. I am very confident in my own skin so I can do whatever allows me to do that.”

You can maybe also have a cameo in Human 2…

“I am not doing Human 2 actually. I love the team but I also want to explore different things and I am doing some very cool projects right now. One of them is a feature film on Hip Hop and I have been shooting it for quite a few months. It’s really fun.”

 

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One thing quite appreciative about your work is that you have always provided a very sensitive representation to the LGBTQIA+ community. But as an industry, where do you think we are still lacking in when it comes to representation of the spectrum?

“Firstly, all of that is changing a lot because all the filmmakers showing representation of the LGBTQIA+ community, are doing it in a very nuanced and realistic way. The problem previously was that the community was heavily marginalised and always mocked at. It was always considered the comic factor, a joke and wasn’t given an opportunity to express itself. But I don’t think that problem exists anymore. Having said that, we still have miles to go.”

 

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Then what should the industry do more?

“Firstly, the industry should be able to cast a person from the LGBTQIA+ community in a straight role. We have seen it the other way round, but the confidence needs to come in the industry that the best actor should play any part, and if it happens to be coming from the community, then that shouldn’t matter. What people do in front of the camera is not what they do in their bedroom. So, it’s about their talent and craft. Having said that, I feel this is the only way people from the community in the industry would be empowered to come out. This industry is filled with LGBTQIA+ people, but a lot of them are in the closet because they feel their work will suffer. So, with a level playing field that equalise opportunities for everyone, more and more voices will come out and admit to being a part of the community.

Another thing I feel is that it would be amazing to see transsexuals being cast in male or female parts, depending on which way they have transitioned. To not think of them as transgendered, but as the best actor/actress for the role. I think these leaps need to be taken to normalise the conversation as much as possible.”

 

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But do you feel the audience is ready to accept a person from the spectrum as a leading man/lady?

“I feel the audience is way ahead of the industry in their thinking. The industry is gripped by many fears including the box office, but the audience doesn’t care about it. They just want to watch the best film and see the best actor perform in what he/she/they are doing. They don’t have any calculations in their head and they will accept anyone talented irrespective of what they do in their bedroom. The more you see the LGBTQIA+ community as the other, it will never become a part of the conversation as it will always be the outsider.”

Also Read: Vicky Kaushal warmly hugs crew members after he wraps a schedule of Sam Bahadur- WATCH