‘It’s like hearing stories from your grandmother’

He may have taken a long time to break out of anonymity but Vijay Varma has earned his place in the industry today Even as he juggles multiple films the actor has recorded his first audio show The Sandman for Audible Itrsquos sheer joy for Varma an ardent comic book fan to step into the character of Morpheus in creator Neil Gaimanrsquos world In conversation with midday the Gully Boy actor shares his love for comics and the potential of audio showsEdited excerpts from the interviewAre you a fan of graphic novelsI followed a phenomenal Indian comic book series called Raj Comics which had our homegrown superheroes mdash Nagraj Bhedia Doga Bhokal Parmanu and so on I had a collection of almost 500 comics when I was about 17 or 18 I was never into English comics I was made aware of those superheroes through cinema or television When I was approached for The Sandman to play the part of Morpheus I had never heard of the character A few writer friends of mine freaked out when they heard about the offer That is when I realised the magnitude of the opportunity I heard the English series on Audible recentlyWho introduced you to Indian comic booksI was born and raised in Hyderabad Every summer vacation we would go to Rajasthan In the course of travelling from Hyderabad to Rajasthan by train I discovered Hindi books available in AH Wheeler shops This generation would not probably know about AH Wheeler stories laughs When I was about eight years old I happened to go to this shop at the station where people were renting comic books for 25 paise That was when I picked up my first comic book The next 15 years of my life were dedicated to reading comic books during summer vacations My father used to deal in antiques and handicrafts Hersquod go to the markets where people were selling old books I started going there with him and found comics in some shopsOnly recently we realised the character of Morpheus has been adapted in the Matrix franchise from Neil Gaimanrsquos universe Did you have any revelations while doing this showThere have been constant revelationsWhat Mr Gaiman has made is so profound and vast Itrsquos rooted in mythology culture history science fiction and every realm There is a chapter on how Dream Morpheus met William Shakespeare and encouraged him to write two plays one of which is A Midsummer Nightrsquos Dream Itrsquos like somebody did not hold their imagination backThis is your first brush with an audio series How was the experienceIt was daunting right from the onset We worked with our voice and tried to create visuals through our words It was a great learning curve for me I donrsquot remember spending so much time in a booth before By the end of it I could go on for a few more hoursWere you nervous about lending your voice to such an important characterI was nervous throughout the experience I would hide it well because I am trained to do that I am more excited and nervous about this project because Mr Gaiman will hear itDo you think people have screen fatigue and will be drawn to audio showsI know I have fatigue and so many people are unless they are in denial I feel this is oldschool storytelling Itrsquos like hearing stories from your grandmother With Tabu walking people through the show along with Manoj Bajpayee Adarsh Gourav Kubbra Sait Tillotama Shome Neeraj Kabi the show is bound to create curiosity If we can widen the audience pool a bit that itself is a victory