Vidyut Jammwal is geared up for his next release, Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2, Agni Pariksha. The actor will reprise his role as Sameer in the film, and this time, he has to save his daughter. It has been 12 years since Vidyut has been a part of the industry, and the actor has also worked in the Telugu and Tamil industries. In an exclusive interview, Vidyut addressed the north vs south debate that has been going on in the film industry for some time now, and shared his opinion on it.
Speaking to us, he said, “It’s just great timing. I think people have started enjoying cinema in a very different way. I’ve been watching South movies in the dubbed versions all my life. Like I have really always enjoyed the south movies and our Hindi cinema. I enjoy the Punjabi cinema too. For me, I really think that this whole division of north and south, it doesn’t work in my head.”
He also added that being an Army kid, he only recognises the country as a whole. He added, “Like I’ve been saying, I’m an Army kid. And if you’re an army’s personnel’s son, you don’t see them like that. Back when my father was posted in Jammu and Kashmir, we had the Assam rifles next to us, the Bihar regiment next to us. So we don’t see North, East, West, South. I also don’t see it like that! So anybody who prospers- whether it’s Eastern cinema, Punjabi cinema, any other language- for me it’s a success as an Indian, so I don’t see that.”
Talking about how the second chapter of Khuds Haafiz is different, Vidyut said, “There is no greater love than the love of a parent. I’ve always heard this but as an actor, I really experienced it for the first time. Like when somebody says that ‘I can kill for my child, if my child is in danger’, I believe them now. It’s an emotion you just can’t experience without experiencing parenthood. So for me, it was amazing when I read the script and I thought ‘Oh, my God, this will be really different’,”.
Khuda Haafiz had an OTT release, and such was the success of the film that the second part is now releasing in theatres. When asked the actor about whether he felt pressured with the success of the first, he revealed, “I really believe in taking one step at a time, always in life. When we did the first we were hoping, but we didn’t really expect such an overwhelming response. While we were shooting the second part we didn’t think oh my god we have to serve or something. It was just like, ‘we’ve got to get it right, we got to get it right’. And when I look at the movie, I just watched the movie recently, I think we’ve really done a good job. I’m proud of what the director has done.”
The team has also shot the entire film in real locations, which Vidyut feels was challenging. He said, “Faruk (Kabir, director) is like that. He believes in the reality of cinema. In the second part also he did the same and most of the action sequences are on real locations. Like there’s a place called Kasaiwada and it’s quite cumbersome to shoot there, it’s not easy at all. Then we went to Egypt, the pyramids, to shoot. The pyramids are quite sacrosanct to a lot of people. So they’re very careful. It was not as easy but when I look back and I look at the movie, it’s quite a good feeling.”
Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2 Agni Pariksha will see Vidyut share screen with Shivaleeka Oberoi once again. The Faruk Kabir film is releasing on 8th July in cinemas.
