“He feeds on darkness”: Actor Vijay Varma on playing serial killer Anand Swarnakar in Dahaad

Actor Vijay Varma has finally found his (well-deserved) place in the spotlight. Basking in glowing reviews for his work in Dahaad, an Amazon Prime Video web series, as the antagonist, the Hyderabad-born actor was part of the Indian delegation at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Not just that. After facing a fair share of struggle, Varma has his hands full with plum projects. 

Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar, co-creators of Dahaad, are also responsible for bringing him the right kind of attention with the 2019 film Gully Boy, where Varma prominently features as Moeen—a drug peddler using kids to do business while also caring for them. He has risen since, displaying his versatility across OTT web series and films. 

In a conversation with YS Life, Varma mentions that when Kagti offered him the part of Anand Swarnakar—the unassuming but brutal serial killer—the former came on board immediately. 

“It takes a lot of courage to say ‘yes’ to a character like that, but it also takes a lot of courage to say ‘no’ to a part like this. I chose Dahaad because it is a compelling story, a great part, and the makers are very solid. They run a set democratically, and I align with their inclusivity and worldview. I cherish my time with them. Although, I did tell Reema to give me something really nice after this!” he adds. 

Over the past few years, the actor has successfully delivered the goods of being mean and negative onscreen. In the Netflix series She (2020), he plays a drug dealer with subtle menace. He brought out the cruelty under the surface of abusive husbands who come across as normal men in Netflix’s Darlings (2022)—a film with Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah. 

With Dahaad, Varma plays a passive-aggressive, cold-blooded killer with zero empathy, immaculately skilled at living a double life. 

Has he found a pattern of success in carrying off complex negative roles? YS Life asks. 

“When I get such a role, I do think, ‘How will I do it? How do I become this person?’ But then, a voice inside me tells me that this is a delicious part, and only a stupid actor would let go of such a meaty role. They challenge me, and they put me to a test to break these (men) down to play them with some kind of honesty,” the actor reveals.  

Because of his background in theatre, Varma genuinely engages in how he unpacks a role and becomes a character. Anand Swarnakar—a Good Samaritan and family man who preys on young women seeking love in Dahaad—is the most well-developed character with a wholesome arc. Unpacking his personality meant sticking to a well-researched script, but it also required him to develop some of his own traits. 

“A great deal of work went into developing the way he talks and getting the dialect right,” he says. Interestingly, his character is often seen driving an old van. Verma—who did not own a car when he was shooting—had to learn to drive an old, discarded ambulance to get into the character.  

Playing a serial killer is often a dream come true for actors, but as Charlize Theron, Dominic West, and Zac Effron say, getting close to a real-life murderer while preparing comes with its perils. 

West had bad dreams while shooting for his part Fred West in Appropriate Adults. Theron struggled with finding a ‘place of understanding’ for Aileen Wuornos in her Oscar-winning part in Monster, and Efron, with the commonalities he found with infamous killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil & Vile. 

Similarly, Varma had to find his method of unpacking Swarnakar’s choices. “There is very little that is human in this character. He is a straight-up cold-blooded serial killer.” 

“Reema had scribbled notes on the margins of the screenplay. One phrase caught my attention. ‘He feeds on darkness. Even when he is having a seemingly normal conversation (with a woman), he is approaching it from a dark, unusual place’,” he explains. 

Varma had run away from home to escape his father’s conservative outlook, and he struggled for over ten years to make it big in acting. He was rejected by Anurag Kashyap for Sacred Games and ousted from Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots.  

Besides films and acting on stage, Varma has also worked in an audio series for Audible, student films, and music videos. 

With eight web series releases in 2020, Varma’s edgy performances have made him an OTT favourite. But he remains platform-agnostic. “Avenues and platforms don’t excite me; stories excite me. When Gully Boy and Baaghi 3 were released, I went to Gaiety Galaxy… There were no movies in theatres for two years, and that’s when most of my work came out on streamers. Now I can choose the ones that excite me the most,” he adds. 

Varma’s offscreen personality is also getting a lot of attention. His recent experimental sartorial choices have also won him fashion awards. While walking the red carpet at Cannes—10 years after his first visit for the film Monsoon Shootout (2013)—Varma humorously quipped that he is ok being called  ‘Marwari-Johnny Depp’ in an interview with Film Companion. Wearing Arjun Saluja, he admitted to steam-ironing his outfit with no entourage.  

Acceptance and success are definite highs for him, but the trappings of stardom haven’t yet taken over. “I didn’t keep books of who had refused me, and I wish I had. I also understood at that time that although getting rejected hurts, with time, I don’t reflect on that. I am really flowing with my creativity as I have a script coming in every third day. I pick only the best, so I am in a very content place,” he concludes. 

Next up for Varma is Mirzapur Season 3—where he also gets a dialogue writer credit, Sujoy Ghosh’s adaptation of Devotion of Suspect X, a Viacom 18 series Kalkoot, and more. Playing characters does mean steady success, and Varma’s journey is living proof of that.