Exclusive | Vikhyat Gulati opens up about playing Johnny Malang in Kohrra 2, recalls running in -10 degrees for the viral chase scene
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Exclusive | Vikhyat Gulati opens up about playing Johnny Malang in Kohrra 2, recalls running in -10 degrees for the viral chase scene")
Photo of actor Vikhyat Gulati Photograph: (X)
Actor Vikhyat Gulati played the role of Johnny Malang in the much-acclaimed Kohrra 2, starring Mona Singh and Barun Sobti in the lead. In his exclusive chat with WION, the actor recalled how he got the role in the hit series
Mumbai is often called the city of dreams, a place where countless young individuals arrive hoping to one day see themselves on posters and screens across the world. But in the entertainment industry, talent alone is not enough. Behind every breakthrough role lies persistence, patience, relentless hard work and, of course, the role of destiny. Among the many who come chasing that dream is actor Vikhyat Gulati, whose acting journey began in Delhi and who has now been recognised for playing Johnny Malang in Netflix’s Kohrra season 2.
However, before landing the role, Gulati had already appeared in several OTT shows such as Decoupled and Masaba Masaba, among others. While he continued acting and attending auditions in the hope of making it big, surviving in the city of Mumbai was not easy. That is when he chose to work as a casting director. But acting remained his end goal, and landing a role in a show or film was always on his mind, even when he spent his days casting other actors for different projects. And then, one day, while doing his casting job, his talent was noticed. Destiny played its part, and he eventually landed the role of Johnny Malang in Sudip Sharma's Kohrra 2.
In an exclusive conversation with WION, Vikhyat spoke about Kohrra, how he landed the role of Johnny Malang, and his belief in the “bamboo shoot effect.”
When Vikhyat played Johnny, but offscreen
In Kohrra season 2, Gulati plays Johnny Malang, the blue-haired dance, who is seen as the main suspect in the murder mystery. But getting the role was not something he had thought of. Telling the story of how he bagged the story, the actor said, ''I was part of the casting team for both seasons 1 and season 2 of Kohrra. For every character, especially for this character, Johnny. we auditioned about 150 people"
"Everywhere in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Patiala, wherever we went in every city, we auditioned a lot of people. So, I was auditioning an actor for another character in front of Faisal sir and Sudip sir. And they really liked me when I was queuing for the other part. And they were pretty impressed, and they were like, you are doing great, you are doing well. I said, thank you, sir. And I told them, I am an actor also, and I don't only do casting. but I have done these projects.''
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Playing Johnny Malang happened by chance
Interestingly, the role of Johnny Malang had already been finalised with another actor. But due to dates that actor was not finalised. Clearly, fate had other plans.
Also read: Kohrra 2 review: Barun Sobti and Mona Singh's web series is not just a regular mystery thriller
''In Chandigarh, both my colleague and I were figuring out how the scene should be exactly. And we thought, let's just record. I played Johnny, and my colleague was playing Garundi. Nikita, who is the casting director, she really liked it. So, we just sent the take-ahead, and they liked it a lot. So after that, a lot of time passed. I would not like to name, then there was another actor who was locked for to play Johnny. But there was an issue with the dates. The team called me and asked me. Can you dance? Send your dance video. I sent it. And then they were like, 'Okay, let's ask Vikhyat to play Johnny.' So, yeah, that's how it happened.''
The story behind Johnny’s blue hair
The highlight of Johnny's character was his blue hair. Before you notice anything, it's his hair that catches your eye. Speaking about that, the actor said that, interestingly, the idea came up quite casually.
''So, that thing again was also very chance-based, where the supervising producer, Paulami, both me and her, we were just sitting and talking randomly. So, you know, when there was this TikTok era, and in the very initial period when it was started, a lot of boys' hair used to be colored. And in Punjab, we also used to see a lot of people who had colored their hair. Just to, you know, stand out from the crowd. So, I said in a joke, ‘Paulami, his hair should be colored. It will look good.’ And the very next day, the stylist called me in. We spent three to four hours bleaching, treating and colouring my hair blue.''
''They wanted Johnny to be a little different. And he should look a little different. He does things at his own will. For example, Johnny's father also says in the show, ''Johnny goes where life takes him.'' I think hair colour, tattoo, every expression, all these things, are a part of an expressive personality,'' he added.
The running sequence in Manali
One scene that really stood out in the show was the running sequence in Manali when Barun Sobti's character, Garundi, is chasing Johnny. The scene went viral on social media soon after the series premiered on Netflix. Speaking about the same, the actor said that the sequence was physically very demanding and they were shooting in Manali when the temperature was around minus eight to minus ten degrees.
''I don't exactly remember the kilometres, but for three days we were in Manali. We used to wake up at 5, 5.30 in the morning. And from 6 to 4 or 5 in the evening, for almost 12 hours, we just ran.''
Watch the scene here:
One of the most challenging shots involved the camera being mounted on him, and during the run, he also sustained an injury when his leg twisted during the shoot, but he continued.
''They had mounted around 40 kgs of rings on me. I had to run with that in the hills. And it was a peak winter. It was minus 8 to 10 degrees in January. And I was wearing multiple layers, and there was a ring. I had a lot of fun, no matter how much pain I got. I twisted my leg. I went through it all, but I enjoyed every moment of it.''
Vikhyat describes his journey as the bamboo shoot effect
Talking about his career, Vikhyat believes in the bamboo shoot effect. Apart from Kohhra, the actor said that he has played characters that have always contributed meaningfully to the plot.
‘’All the shows that I have been a part of, right from Tandav to Masaba Masaba to Decoupled to Flames, Jamnapar, wherever I was there, I am grateful, I would say fortunate enough that every part that I played had something to do with the story. Every character that I have played has added to the plot. And if it wasn't there, the plot wouldn't have been alive. I did an international film where I was taking the story ahead by being the frontrunner of the organisation. You know, there is this bamboo shoot effect where a bamboo shoot takes 5 years to only grow 5 feet, and in the 6th year it grows up to 20-30 feet. So, I think all the hard work that I have done for the last 8-10 years was probably to join such a team where a show that is running all over the world in almost 20-30 countries at No. 1 and is being streamed on Netflix in all those countries, and I got a chance to work with a creator like Sudip Sharma. So, that was a big blessing for me to collaborate with such a team.''
