Vihaan Samat: My first role in a movie was with Michael Keaton

After completing an acting course at New York University, actor Vihaan Samat flew back to India to pursue a career as an actor. After appearing in web series like Mismatched and Bombay Begums, he marked his debut as a lead actor with the web show Eternally Confused And Eager To Love that released last month.

But his first brush with onscreen acting happened in a Hollywood film, Worth (2020). “I was studying acting, specifically method acting and then film acting. Thereafter, I wanted to hone my skills and worked a bit in the USA. My first role in a movie was with Michael Keaton (actor), where I had one scene,” he recalls.

Quiz him about what made him want to come back to India and he says, “India is home and you always want to work where your home is. I haven’t lived in a small village in Haryana or Jharkhand, but I want to play characters based in those places as well. Hollywood is great, but that’s for later. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to do international projects.”

Happy with the transitional phase that the Indian entertainment industry is going through, Samat feels that this is the perfect time for him to take his career ahead. Highly inspired by actor Alia Bhatt, he tells us, “She’s a beautiful performer. I’m drawn to people who can play different characters powerfully and have the finesse of being in so many different spaces and committing 100% to each one of them.”

Talking about the other actors who have left an impact on him, the young actor adds, “I grew up watching Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. As I got older, I was exposed to Hollywood where I watched a lot of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando. And then I was drawn towards Philip Seymour Hoffman, Adrain Brody, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jeremy Strong, who are truly beautiful and incredible actors.”

So, does he have a bucket list of directors who he wants to work with? “Apart from Farhan (Akhtar), Zoya (Akhtar) and Reema (Kagti), I want to work with Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Karan Johar, and Rohit Shetty. I also admire Advait Chauhan, Sudhir Mishra, and Hansal Mehta’s work,” Samat ends.