The actor posted behind-the-scenes photos introducing Hemant, the puran-poli-loving, ghazal-listening character Konkona Sen Sharma's character calls Hemu on screen.
Vijay Varma has decided his Lust Stories 3 character deserves a proper introduction. A day after the anthology dropped on OTT, the actor put up a carousel of behind-the-scenes stills on Instagram and used the caption to formally introduce Hemant, or Hemu, the name Konkona Sen Sharma's character calls him within the segment itself.
"Meet Hemant (Hemu). Loves puran poli and Marathi rap," Vijay wrote, before going deeper into the character's tastes. "Likes whiskey and ghazals? Not a fan on adventure sports… Loves reels. More reels. Doesn't watch K drama."
It reads less like a film promo and more like a dating profile, which seems to be the point. Of the four stories in this round of the anthology, Hemant's segment has landed as the breather among heavier narratives, and Bollywood Hungama reports that audiences have responded to his laid-back, unforced energy.
The segment, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, pairs Vijay with Radhika Apte, an actor he's shared screen space with before, and their chemistry has been one of the more remarked-upon parts of the anthology. Konkona Sen Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee round out the segment in roles that add to the tangle of relationships driving the story.
What makes Hemant land, going by the reaction Bollywood Hungama has tracked, is how ordinary he's allowed to be. No big monologues, no dramatic reveal. Just a guy who likes his whiskey, avoids anything resembling adventure sports and has clearly seen one too many reels. It's a small, specific kind of writing, and it's the sort of role that lives or dies on the actor selling the mundane details as real.
For Vijay, it's also a sharp swing away from where he was last. He played a hardened figure in Matka King before this, and Hemant is close to the opposite of that, easy-going and low on menace. It's the kind of range that actors like to point to, and this time the audience seems to be pointing right back.
Lust Stories 3 is streaming now, and Hemant is currently the segment people are talking about most. Whether that translates into more attention for the anthology's other three stories, or whether Hemant ends up as the single moment everyone remembers this edition for, is still playing out online.
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