Vineet Kumar Singh: My career has been built from one-two scenes; I have played the role of a dead body too

Vineet Kumar Singh, since he achieved fame with Mukkabaaz (2017), has taken up projects very carefully. In a span of four years since, he did few films such as Gold (2018), Saand Ki Aankh (2019), Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020), and a web series, Bard of Blood. While many actors would be happy going on a signing spree, it wasn’t the case with him, and nor did he take up any masala potboilers just for the sake of money.

“Honestly, those kind of films didn’t come my way, that’s my truth. I keep searching for better, and read every script offered to me. I’ve grown up watching masala films, my upbringing was in Varanasi, and then I went to a medical college, I’ve stayed in different towns. Only the theatres were my support, films would only be screened there. If I get masala films, I’d do them of course,” he says.

The 36-year-old adds that if given a choice between a meaty role in a small film with a good script, and a small role in a big film, he’d go for the former. But, he also confesses he has done the most unlikeliest of roles, too.

“It’s not as if I haven’t done this already. In my career, I’ve performed as the duplicate heroes, too. In a film called Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav (2005), I played Suniel Shetty sahab’s duplicate. There was a film called Rakht, there was a big star and the shot was about a dead body. It was the last shot, and they wanted someone with the same height and structure, it was me. I’ve done these uncredited roles. Mera career ek ek scene se bana hai, maine jahan kaam kiya, wahan logon ke mujhe repeat kiya,” says a proud Singh, who will be seen next in the film Aadhaar.

While praise did come his way, there was hardly any offer for lead roles, which he wanted. “I did Bombay Talkies, Gangs of Wasseypur... tareef bauhaut mili, lekin jis cheez ke liye main Mumbai aaya tha, woh nahi ho raha tha. That’s why I took this decision to write a story for myself, and I co-wrote Mukkabaaz with my sister,” shares the actor.