To many more 'Mickey bhaiyas'

From struggling his way up the ladder through Permanent Roommates to a star in feature films, Heena Khandelwal traces Sumeet Vyas' journey

It has been four years since Permanent Roommates brought Sumeet Vyas, who plays the lead role in the TVF web-series, to everyone's notice. Even now, news reports continue to tag Vyas's name with 'Mikesh Chaudhary' aka 'Mickey Bhaiya', the character he played. Not that Vyas minds. "I don't get tired of being called 'Mickey Bhaiya'. In fact, the plan is to create at least 15 such characters," says the 34-year-old actor, who will next be seen in High Jack, a stoner comedy releasing on May 11, followed by 'Veere Di Wedding', where he is paired with Kareena Kapoor Khan.

It's taken 14 years for recognition to come Vyas's way. Starting his career as an assistant editor at 16, Vyas edited promos for television before he saw a performance at Prithvi Theatre and decided to quit and learn acting. His parents (his father is writer BM Vyas) thought it was silly since he had decided against going to college and was now leaving his job. But Vyas had made up his mind. "I knew an actor in Nadira Babbar's theatre company Ekjute. So I started attending rehearsals and doing backstage work in plays like 'Ek Ghoda Teen Savar' and 'Begum Jaan'. I managed props, costumes, and played instruments since they were doing musicals. I enjoyed the atmosphere where I was surrounded by people who would talk about literature and drama," recalls Vyas.

A year later, he went back to college to study Hindi literature since he had already read most texts that were part of the English Literature course. "I would attend college in the morning and do theatre in the evening. Studying was interesting because I really wanted to read Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai, and Premchand," Vyas continued with Ekjute for 6 or 7 years – writing, acting in and directing plays. Later, he worked with Rage productions' 'One on One 2' alongside Rajit Kapur, Manav Kaul's 'Park' and 'Aisa Kehte Hain', Akarsh Khurana's 'Spunk' and 'Bagdad Wedding', among others.

Alongside theatre, Vyas did television serials like DD's 'Woh Hue Na Hamare' and NDTV Imagine's 'Rehna Hai Teri Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein' (2009), besides small roles in films like 'Aarakshan' (2011), 'English Vinglish' (2012) and 'Aurangzeb' (2013). 'Permanent Roommates' came along in 2014.

"Things changed drastically after the series… I started charging more money," chuckles Vyas, adding, "People started calling and taking interviews. I was exposed to more opportunities." He has since written 'Bang Baaja Baaraat', a web-series for Yash Raj Films' YouTube channel Y-Films, and TVF Tripling, which he co-wrote with Akarsh Khurana, and acted in. Vyas has also played a supporting role in 'Parched' (2015) and played the lead in Rakhee Sandilya's debut feature 'Ribbon' (2017) alongside Kalki Koechlin. The film, which touched various subjects ranging from relationships, parenthood to gender discrimination, didn't do well. "When we were making it, we knew that we weren't making 'Dabangg', but we still wanted to make a viable film," says Vyas.

It's this approach that makes his decision to do 'Veere Di Wedding' unexpected, but Vyas has an explanation. "I really wanted to work with Shashanka Ghosh (the film's director). Also, I wanted to experience a commercial movie. It has been great so far... brings a lot of attention since the reach is incredible."

Will 'Veere Di Wedding' be Vyas's 'big Bollywood break'? "I've spent close to 17 years acting and don't expect one project to be a game changer. It's a good project, has a lot of big stars and a big budget... But it's just one of the things I am doing right now. The plan is not to do one spectacular project, but to stay and continue doing good work."