Abhay Verma is currently basking in the love and success of Munjya. The film has emerged a surprise hit and marks the actor’s first collaboration with filmmaker Dinesh Vijan, who has produced the film. However, this wasn’t the first chance that he got to do it.
The 25-year-old wanted to work with Vijan ever since he saw Cocktail (2012), and before Munjya, there was one more opportunity that he got, but he regrets missing out on it. “I got an offer to work in Angrezi Medium, but somehow it didn’t materialise. I regret it a lot as it was Irrfan (Khan, actor) sir’s last film, and if I could have gotten a chance to just stand next to him even in one frame, it would have been my biggest award,” he shares, revealing the reason behind passing the film: “The role I was offered was a bit small, and I had received another film in a leading role with better screen space, but eventually that film never happened.”
Before Munjya, Verma played a terrorist in The Family Man, a transgender in Safed and a patriot in Ae Watan Mere Watan. However, none got him the recognition that he is now receiving. Ask about it and he says, “I had a major positive takeaway from The Family Man that if you work with honesty for five days in your life, it would get you recognition for 50 years. But with Safed’s recepetion, I was really disheartened.”
The actor goes on to add how he transformed himself to play the trans character in Safed. “I was so engrossed in that portrayal that on the day of screening, my director came up to me and asked if the boy who played Chandi’s role has arrived or not. I had to tell him that it was me who did that role. He hugged me thrice post that and that was my biggest win that my director couldn’t recognise me,” he shares, adding that his prep for the role really hit him hard. “I went to Benaras a couple of months before the entire team came. I would get ready in a salwar kurta and go on streets to observe how transgenders are actually treated. I wanted to give a portrayal that even after 10 years, if an actor is doing a trans role, their director tells them to look at my role as a reference,” he insists.
Verma reveals that while he is getting love for Munjya now, it comes after a difficult wait. “After completing Munjya, I played a gamble with my life for one-and-a-half years. I wanted to wait to see the response to it before taking any further step in my career. I somehow managed that time with my savings but I had to sacrifice a lot as well. I haven’t been to a restaurant in over one-and-a-half years. In the last three-four months, I even started feeling a little suffocated but thankfully, the wait proved fruitful otherwise mera Panipat ka bag almost pack ho hi gaya tha,” he quips.
