Vedang Raina opens up on the underwhelming response to Jigra, learnings from 2024: You question what you could have…

As 2024 draws to a close, actor Vedang Raina reflects on it as “a crazy year in the best way possible”. Talking about his learnings this year, he says, “The takeaway from 2024 is that the biggest virtue of an actor is patience. It’s about being patient when your work is not out, or to wait when work is not there, and live through those bits as much as you're living through the moments on set.”

This year, Vedang Raina made his theatrical debut with the Alia Bhatt-starrer Jigra, and he admits that seeing himself on the 70 mm was a surreal feeling. “It was so different. The only time I saw myself on the big screen was during the Jigra premiere. It was special to be a part of a film like this with Alia. With Vasan Bala sir directing and Karan Johar backing it, it was always a big deal. I couldn't have ever dreamt for that to happen in my second film. It meant a lot, so a lot of positives from there,” he says.

While he enjoyed the experience, Jigra got embroiled in a lot of negativity, which also resulted in it underperforming at the box office. Ask him how it affected him and he shares, “As an actor, you put in the work for over a year for a project. You want the audience to like it, enjoy it, receive it in a good way, be entertained and be moved. These are the things what we aim for. We do all the mehnat behind the scenes to get some sort of validation and appreciation for our work, and for people to enjoy it. So, when that kind of goes a miss, or some people react a certain way, you question what you could have done better, what things could have gone differently. It’s a very natural way of dealing with things.”

The 24-year-old adds, “It's now been a year in the industry for me, so I'm getting to understand these aspects of the industry a lot better. There’s a lot of good things and constructive criticism to take away from Jigra. The pursuit is still same, of becoming better with every film and improving and honing what you're doing and maybe reach to a state somewhere in life where it all pays off. You keep working, rest is all up to the universe.”

With Jigra, Vedang got to show his singing skills too to the audience and he is overjoyed with the response it got: “Singing was always my thing, even before acting. When my acting journey started, I always dreamt of doing something in music. With Jigra, I was lucky that Vasan sir had seen some of the stuff that I'd done and I got the opportunity to sing two songs. I never thought I'll be out there publicly with my singing and that would get received so well.”

Vedang started his acting journey with The Archies last year, and while the film received mixed reviews, he was appreciated for his impressive entry in the acting world. “I was just thanking my stars because I never expected it. I knew that the three main characters, Archie, Betty and Veronica, maybe they would have some sort of a launch but when we started workshops, we realised that all seven of us will be launched. I didn't even know how big my part was as I hadn't read the script when I said yes,” he shares, adding, “After the film, there was an overwhelmingly positive response, and I think that happened because nobody expected anything from me. There was no baggage, as nobody was aware of who I was, so naturally the audience tended to root for it.”