Actor Vivaan Shah is at his optimum zest as we speak to him more than a week after the release of Sriram Raghavan’s anti-war drama, Ikkis. There is a chirpy excitement in Vivaan’s voice as he recalls how he got associated with the film. “It was stroke of luck,” he says. Vivaan has not starred in a war film before. According to him, he is rarely considered for such roles because he lacks “officer-like qualities”. However, surprises abound in a Sriram Raghavan film. While the plot didn’t involve much mystery this time, the casting of Vivaan involved a curious case of mistaken identity.
“It was a freak occurrence. There was some other Vivaan, who was messaging Sriram sir for a while and he thought that it’s me. Sriram sir spoke to him for 2-3 years,” reveals Vivaan. The confusion, however, wasn’t going to stay for long. “When he found out that its not me, Sriram sir told his team to call the ‘real’ Vivaan. After that, I had to prove myself to get the part. It was purely a coincidence otherwise I wouldn’t have landed the part,” Vivaan says.
The actor doesn’t hold back his admiration for the playful, twisted films of Sriram Raghavan, with his favourite being Merry Christmas, Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif’s slow-burn thriller with a heartbeat. “It has a dear place in my heart as it features the part of Mumbai where I grew up. Especially the Goan Catholic culture shown in the film with all the architecture, colours and lights. That part of Mumbai is slowly getting eroded due to redevelopment, construction, builders and the powers that be. The aesthetic of the city is changing,” says Vivaan.
In that way, Ikkis occupies an entirely different visual space, shot with lesser dependence on any city as a character. It’s the distance (both physical and emotional) between two neighbouring countries that it worryingly looks at. For Vivaan, the film is not a departure from Sriram’s earlier films, Andhadhun, Badlapur, Johnny Gaddar and Ek Hasina Thi, which were essentially stylistic entertainers. Vivaan has a theory that goes back to old Hollywood genre film directors who influenced Sriram including, Don Siegal, Robert Aldrich, Samuel Fuller and Anthony Mann.
Vivaan Shah as Captain Vijendra Malhotrain ‘Ikkis’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“They made gangster films, noir films, westerns and they also made war films. It is interesting that all of these filmmakers, who are favourites of Sriram sir, also have a war movie in their filmography. So in a way, Sriram sir is a descendent of them, carrying the tradition ahead. It is like a logical expansion of his filmography,” Vivaan adds.
Apart from his intellectual understanding of the filmmaker’s artistic merit, Vivaan also appreciates the human side of Sriram. “He is an inclusive director, a sweet and kind man. He is not an authoritarian director. There are some filmmakers who have a certain weight when they come on set, and there’s nothing wrong in it. But in contrast, Sriram sir is quite chill. He would encourage us to share ideas with him, making us feel an integral part of the creative process,” says Vivaan.
Perhaps that’s where a sense of authenticity blends in the performances. Vivaan embodies the grit and rigour of being an army man quite effectively in the film, relying more on the sturdiness of his body language than on weighty dialogue delivery. Vivaan says that he took inspiration for playing the character from his father, Naseeruddin Shah’s older brother, General Zameeruddin Shah.
Vivaan’s still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“I like working with the external side as an actor. I begin from the outside and then work my way in. In a way, I work on my performances like sculpting, letting an expression stay on my face for long before the camera rolls. I let my expression soak in the sun so that it comes across as lived-in. I call it the sculptural method,” explains the actor, who is also a novelist, having written three books, The Forsaken Wilderness (2023), Midnight Freeway (2021) and Living Hell (2019).
Vivaan finds a similarity in the two disciplines, saying that acting and writing complement each other quite well. “Both are about the art of communication. While writing, one does it through a design and arrangement of words. And during acting, you communicate using gestures, body language and the vocal apparatus. I find it liberating to write because it is the only art form where you only need a pen and a piece of paper,” Vivaan says.
Interestingly, in a pivotal scene in Ikkis, Captain Vijendra Malhotra, played by Vivaan, advises Arun Khetarpal (Agastya Nanda) to take up the pen and paper and write a long-pending letter to his girlfriend. In another, small but striking moment, Malhotra stops another soldier from shooting at a bunch of surrendered Pakistani troops. The film carries the message of peace even on the battlefield. For Vivaan, the world view of Ikkis stood out. He says that it is important for him to align with the politics of a film that he is part of.
“I could never do a film where I am not in agreement with its outlook and ideology. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself as a human being for doing a film I disagree with,” he says, while also addressing his privileged position. “I am fortunate that I get to have a choice. If I was not a privileged person, then it is possible that I had to do some work due to economic constraints,” Vivaan says.
At the same time, he says that he respects people with opposing views. “I have friends whose politics I am not in agreement with. I don’t want that to affect my friendship with them. It is important to have an open mind in terms of not letting politics colour your judgement of anybody else,” he concludes.
Published – January 12, 2026 03:58 pm IST
