Vikas Kumar: ‘Never used dialect coaching to find roles’

He has portrayed a cop one too many times but Vikas Kumar has always managed to play them differently As the actor steps into the role of ACP Khan again for the second part of Aarya season 3 he credits the showrsquos writing for making his character ldquomore human and emotionalrdquo In conversation with midday Kumar looks back on his acting journey how filmmaker Ram Madhvani humanised his character in the Disney Hotstar show and how the part is closer to his reallife personaEdited excerpts from the interviewHow did both your professions dialect coach and acting come togetherI came to Mumbai looking for work as an actor Whoever had seen me act thought that my voice and dialogue delivery are my forte One day my roommate Honey Trehan who is now a director was sitting with an assistant casting director working on a Hollywood film being shot in India They wanted somebody to ensure that the Indian actors speak British English well So he recommended me to the line producer While I waited for the right acting projects to come my way I had to do something to stay busy and earn money Dialect coaching gave me a chance to be part of the film industry Now I have a company called Strictly Speaking where my wife is also a trainerDid dialect coaching pave the way for your acting careerNever People on the outside think that this would help me build contacts but Irsquove never looked at it as a way of finding roles Dialogue coaching has allowed me to choose my acting assignments and do only what I really want to doIt took a long time to build your career since Powder and Khotey SikkeyMy journey has been slow yet steady Things looked promising after Khotey Sikkey because I was made to believe that there will be regular work and Khotey Sikkey was supposed to have a second season But these shows by YRF were way ahead of their time If something like that had happened today it wouldrsquove been very successfulWhile Aaryarsquos first season was liked the second edition received mixed reviews Your takeThe first season had its own novelty it was fresh for the viewers and the actors to explore In season two or three the fear is that you can get complacent You have to challenge yourself and see how you can do things differently within the characterrsquos parameters Ram also does workshops to push you Some people liked season two more than season one wersquove got all kinds of reactionsYoursquove played a cop many times How do you make the roles distinctIrsquove refused many cop roles because they didnrsquot excite me or didnrsquot have a proper journey characterwise The first factor is the writing Thatrsquos why you take up a show like Aarya because itrsquos not your regular cop Plus Ram was directing it and it was Sushmita Senrsquos comeback Ram and the other directors wanted me to make ACP Khan more human and emotional not someone who carries his authority on his shoulders He carries enough authority when he is conducting raids but he is also human enough to understand what Aarya as a woman may be going through His relationship track made it a wholesome characterHow has ACP Khan evolved in season threeNow he comes with even more angst and drive to catch Aarya and the Russians and get rid of the entire drug racket This is probably the closest to how I am in real life and Ram wanted it that way Similarly Sushmita is exactly like Aarya with her kids Ram tries to capture the real you With Ram there is no action and cut you go live your scene and he will capture it Being yourself is the toughest thing to do