Exclusive! Govinda Naam Mera actor Viraj Ghelani: I was rather confident to get rejected for the film

Popular digital content creator Viraj Ghelani, who is making his debut in Bollywood with the upcoming Dharma Productions film Govinda Naam Mera starring Vicky Kaushal and Kiara Advani, says he was rather confident to fail the audition and not bag the film but things of course just changed for him.

Starting his career as a content creator, followed by acting in mini-series' such as Firsts, What The Folks and Adulting that released recently on Amazon miniTV, Viraj tells us that acting in a Karan Johar film was too big of a dream for him to even think of.

In an exclusive conversation with OTTplay, Viraj Ghelani said, "As the film will release soon, I am really excited but till the time I do not see my name appearing on the title card and the world sees it, I can't believe it's happening for real. I come from a non-film family and dreaming to act in a Dharma film was too big for me to even dream...you know what I mean? Mein Kandivali se hoon yaar, bohot simple happy-go-lucky public hoon main! I am always sincere with my work but getting an opportunity is so hard! (sic)"

When asked as to why he tends to underestimate his own hard work, he revealed, " No no, it's not coming from that space. I have got rejected so many times when I auditioned for anything that after a point I got a confidence like 'ye bada audition hai, iss mein to main zarror reject ho jayungi!' Never have I ever cracked an audition for a film! So when I auditioned for Govinda Naam Mera, I was rather confident that I will get another rejection (laughs!)"

However, the young actor managed to not only impress the celebrated casting director Mukesh Chhabra during the audition but also the director of the film Shashank Khaitan who eventually offered him the role in the film.

"I did the audition during the pandemic, so I shot it on a phone camera and sent it. It took two months of time to get the final call from Shashank sir who briefed me on the character and asked me if I am interested to take it...in my head, I was like, 'matlab mujhe pooch rahe hai sir? A newcomer like me, na bolenge kya? I am just here to say yes!" Viraj laughed.

Govinda Naam Mera has been written and directed by Shashank Khaitan, and also stars Bhumi Pednekar, Renuka Shahne, Trupti Khamkar, Sayaji Shinde, Dayanand Shetty, among others, in pivotal roles.

The film is all set to start streaming on Disney + Hotstar from December 16.