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Exclusive: ‘You’re Only As Good As Your Character’ — Special OPS Actor Vipul Gupta

Exclusive: ‘You’re Only As Good As Your Character’ — Special OPS Actor Vipul Gupta

Shravan Shah
Vipul Gupta (Source: Instagram | @officialvipulgupta)

It’s been almost three weeks since Special OPS has released, but even today, I keep hearing about how brilliant the show is from my peers. Everybody has been talking about how addictive the show is and I, for sure, agree to it. I remember finishing the series in 8 hours because that’s how gritty it was. Ever since then, I have been reaching out to the actors who have been a part of this espionage drama, and one of the characters who deserves a mention here is Vipul Gupta. He essayed the role of Bala and just like me, many were heartbroken to see his fate in this Neeraj Pandey directorial.

While I cannot stop going gaga about every character, Vipul said,

It is a fantastic show and it is so well made. The best part of the show is the content. The hero of the show is the content. It’s the way it has been done.

He further elaborated on how each character was tailor-made.

After being a part of Tanhaji’s primary cast and now with Special OPS, it has been such a beautiful thing for me. It’s a double celebration for me in 2020 as both the projects I have been a part of were praised a lot and were heavy on content.Tanhaji was path-breaking because the VFX and storytelling were spectacular. As for Special OPS, I think the real hero of the show is Mr Neeraj Pandey. People are yet again loving his directorial skills and that is brilliant. To add to that is Mr Shivam Nair who has co-directed the show. He is a phenomenal writer. As an actor, I think KK Menon has done a brilliant job. He is so good man. Apart from all five of us, even Vinay Pathak and Divya Dutta very amazing in the show.

One thing that you always see in Neeraj’s work is how his characters have a spin-off story. Will Bala get one too?

Vipul answered the question saying,

I feel that you’re only as good as your character is, no matter how good you are in reality. You can’t do anything beyond a certain point. Naam Shabana is the biggest example. Tapsee had a very small role in Baby. But Naam Shabana was a game-changer for her. That’s when people started taking her seriously as a performer and it opened other avenues for her. So with Neeraj sir, he is somebody who might give you a short part but later that character has the graph to grow. He had told me in the narrations: Bala a quintessential hero. He has everything that a hero has. Action karta hai, romance karta hai, mazak karta hai. Toh uske paas saare ingredients hai. I have been getting compliments that we wanted to see more of Bala, why did Bala die? Which I think is great.

Vipul further spoke about how a lot of things in the industry depends upon how great your project has done.

Post-Tanhaji, a lot of people came up to me. Film bhi hit ho jaati hai, toh bohot farak padta hai. I did a film with Arjun Rampal and Sunny Deol with me as a lead it but it didn’t do well. People wrote good stuff about me but it didn’t give me more work. Working with Ajay, Saif, Kajol and getting noticed was the biggest compliment I got. The film gave me a lot of learning. Now, there are a couple of big directors who have approached me. But abhi tak kuch paper par nahi hua, jo bhi hua corona ke chakar main ghar baith gaye hai.

Vipul has showcased his acting chops in this one and I cannot wait to see what more this talent house has to offer.