Interview: Sumit Vyas said, the teacher stood for 10 minutes and took away the PPT, this was the class of S*X education

Actor Sumit Vyas, who started his career with OTT, has appeared in ‘TVF’, ‘Permanent Roommates’, ‘R Ya Paar’. He has also played important roles in Bollywood films ‘English Vinglish’, ‘Guddu Ki Gun’, ‘Veere Di Wedding’. Now he is playing the character of a terrorist in the web series ‘Jambaz Hindustan Ke’. In this interview, he spoke openly to us about his character, personal life and sex education.

You said that you have been playing bold characters till now. But now your way of choosing a role seems to have changed. You were in a positive role in Aar Ya Paar, now you are in a negative role in your new series, so is it the need of the hour or do you have a different thought about your career goals?
You also get bored doing the same kind of work. It is tiring for me to roll around the personality that I have. Nothing much remains to be explored. In this context also this decision has been taken. We thought in the last one or two years that we would try and find characters who are different from us, think differently from us. This is the reason why you are seeing this variety.

How special a moment is it for you to come to Delhi? What do you like about Delhi?
We are in Connaught Place so we were talking about it today itself that there are many places where one can go for food and drink. I have been coming to Delhi for years. Everything looks very green here. (Laughs) Delhi’s roads are so open, so I am very jealous of this. We do not get such roads in Mumbai. It makes my heart happy just to see the open space, because we have less space and in that we all are trying to do everything. I like the weather here too.

You are playing the most different character in this web series so far, tell us about your role, how challenging was it?
I am playing the character of a terrorist in this series. First thing I think terrorists don’t come from any other planet, they take birth on this earth. They are people like you and me, their food, drink, air and water are all like us. They are brought up in a normal family just like us. But at some point he starts believing in a particular ideology. A person’s faith in that ideology increases so much that he starts to think everything else is wrong. There some chemical reaction takes place. So we need to understand that thing. If we understand that, then we will not do black and white in life and stories. If I judge my character, I will not be able to play it honestly. For an actor, a character is first a human being, that person has to be understood, his thoughts have to be understood, how those thoughts came to be known, only then we will be able to play that character.

It is a dark and negative character, so how does playing it affect you mentally?
Yes, it is stressful. In this, reaction is more stressful than action. If I talk about myself then it is painful for me to trouble someone, on the other hand a character for whom killing hundreds of people is justice for him on one level, then that reaction is very difficult. You have to justify that reaction through the character. That is a difficult thing.

Your film ‘Chhatriwali’ has been released recently, which talks about sex education. All the films that have come on the cinema on this subject have not found much audience. ‘Chhatriwali’ released on OTT, so don’t you think it is a bit difficult to make and run a film on this subject? Second, when in your personal life did you feel like you knew and knew everything about sex?
This is a very difficult subject on which the story ‘Chhatriwali’ is based. There is a fine line in this, if the story deviates from that line even a little bit, then it becomes uncomfortable for the people to watch or the story can also be boring. In such a situation, it is very important to walk holding that line. I didn’t get a chance to take sex education because I went to a normal school. This topic did not exist there. However, I remember when I was in class IX, a class on sex education was made compulsory by the government. So when I was in the class, a teacher came there for formality and put a PPT board. Neither the children asked anything nor the teacher said anything. The teacher stood for 10 minutes and then he took away the PPT, that was his sex education class. So things started to be understood later only after talking about it.

The film also talks about the use of condoms, which is not talked about openly in our country. how do you feel about this?
What has been told about condoms in the film, it has been said in a context that there is a special kind of people, who hesitate. It is not that we are only telling how wonderful a condom is in the film. People see it as a judgement, whereas it is not only necessary for safety but also changes the whole life of women. Many times I myself also see that women also have a judgment that if they are married then at least have a child. While this is not necessary. Because your saying will change a woman’s life forever, your body will not be able to take it back. Your life changes after having a child, no matter how much men make noise that we are equal parents. But the ratio remains 70-30 percent. Up to 5 years the mother has to raise the child. That’s why the decision whether to have a child or not should be the decision of the woman.