The Gujju pin-up

A recordbreaking Rs 242crore opening weekend Jhamkudi a comedyhorror has seen one of the biggest openings for a Gujarati film With 100 shows in Mumbai and more being added we are asking whatrsquos pulling crowds to theatre halls in the cityIs it Viraj Ghelanirsquos comic timing and his lsquoame to aava j chiersquo we are like that only attitude that Gujaratis stereotypically tend to have Perhaps itrsquos the sheer authenticity he brings on screenBut Jhamkudi is not Ghelanirsquos first appearance on screen He first played a part in Vicky Kaushalrsquos Govinda Naam Mera 2022 and later shared the screen with Sanjay Dutt in Jawan 2023 But for even longer he has been a YouTube creator starring in Dice Mediarsquos videos many of which were viral After quitting the media company he continued creating content on his Instagram and YouTube channelsRecently Ghelani was at the Cannes Film Festival For him it was about watching films networking and talking to producers directors and content creators What the audience saw on his Instagram was very real It was all about fanboying over Chris Hemsworth getting a shoe bite and enjoying thepla while abroad ldquoAs a creator I was aware that I would get a lot of hate I was aware that if I am not real on social media I will be flagged off So I made sure I put up reallife stories And I made sure I carry my thepla and talk about itrdquo he saysOn his Instagram bio he proudly writes that he is from SoBo meaning South Borivili Hersquos always a cutie around his nani and features her in several reels And at times is found comically complaining about the traffic in MiraBhayenderJhamkudi is Ghelanirsquos debut in a lead role And for him ldquoitrsquos a dream I had no idea something like this would come into my life Imagine one lakh people are watching your film and praising it I donrsquot want to wake uprdquo Although he says it has ben hard personally for him to watch himself on screenIn the film Ghelani plays Baablo a real estate agent from Ahmedabad who is called to the village of Raniwada to overcome a curse spun by the witch Jhamkudi Itrsquos the romantic scenes that he foud most challenging to pull off with Mansi Parekh a seasoned Hindi television and Gujarati film actor Ghelani could not stop blushing ldquoAll the romantic scenes have been enacted in front of a tree and not with her I was blushing I kept saying lsquoI canrsquot do thisrsquordquo he saysBut how did Ghelani rise to bag the role He says the producers were not looking to cast a wellknown face Any doubts Ghelani had about being right for the part were put at rest ldquoThey said this is what we wanted The character is a chubby boy who comes from Ahmedabad He had to be relatablerdquoThe challenge for him despite being Gujarati was speaking in the tongue Mumbairsquos Gujarati population tends to pepper it with Hindi Marathi or English words The result is a bastardised language that is easy to understand and speak but not suitable for a film ldquoIn Mumbai Gujarati we say loka people There is no word like that itrsquos loko There were so many things which I mixed up I thought lsquoOh my God my Gujarati is patheticrsquordquo Although at times he could keep the language casual in the film as the director wanted it to be relatable to the youth Ghelani did not take formal coaching and instead spent time with Sanjay Goradia a wellknown theatre actor Ojas Rawal and Nisarg Trivedi ldquoI made sure that I sat with them talked to them listened to them got their feedback about my art my acting and performance So for me whatever they said I blindly trusted I was the baby on set These guys said lsquoDonrsquot worry you are doing this or that righthelliprsquo So for me they were confidence boostersrdquo What the film has done is made him a new appreciator of the language Moving from acting for the phone screen to a cinema hall also meant that he was learning new facets of the craft including not flinching the eye when a scene is intense ldquoOn Instagram I have a second if you donrsquot attract them the audience in a second theyrsquoll scroll up Here the responsibility is bigger spanning two and a half hours The audience cannot feel like I have left the characterrdquoEarlier this year he even tried his hand at standup comedy in Gujarati and the tickets to the show were sold out Itrsquos not a route many digital creators typically take ldquoI always wanted to do stand up but I was shying away Then I realised that with the movie coming this is a good way to promote it Second I wanted to check what the ROI of my audience is if I put up a show will they come buy tickets and watch the film Itrsquos a good way to tell brands that there are people who will pay and comerdquo he says Ghelani has tried it all podcasting acting in films creating reels sketches on YouTube and standup comedy Where does this spirit to keep trying new things come from ldquoItrsquos because I dropped out of engineeringrdquo he jokes