After impressing the audience with his supporting yet significant characters in projects like The Railway Men, The Family Man, Aspirants, and Saare Jahan Se Achcha, among others, actor Sunny Hinduja is taking the centre stage as the titular character in his latest series, Vimal Khanna. Sunny got candid with mid-day about his layered yet mysterious character and about his career in the industry so far.

Sunny Hinduja talks about Vimal Khanna

Talking about the mysterious, multi-faceted character of Vimal Khanna, Sunny says, “Vimal Khanna is a very ordinary man who is trapped in the cycle of life. He has a past, and because of that, he is trapped. He has a present.”

When asked what it was like to play a character like that, the actor shares, “The kind of character he is. The kind of situations he is going through. I mean, it`s unimaginable. To imagine and portray the unimaginable was more unimaginable for me. And yet, after being in such circumstances, he doesn`t lose his integrity. He doesn`t lose his true personality of what he is. That`s why I think that Vimal Khanna is made of different clay.”

Did he have any learnings to take away from the character? “Definitely,” he says. “Remove grave situations, those things have happened in my life also, remove the gravity of it. But you stay true to your character and personality and your integrity. That is what I resonate with, Vimal Khanna. And that would resonate with many people as well,” Sunny shares.

Sunny Hinduja reacts to being called an underrated actor

Often mentioned as an underrated actor, we asked him if he agrees to the tag, to which he humbly replies, “I don`t know. What I can think about is how I can become a better actor. I don`t know if I`m underrated or if I`m not. But definitely, I have huge, huge ambitions, and I have very, very high standards in my head, which unfortunately I`m never able to achieve, but that`s the struggle, and that`s the fun of life, so I strive harder and harder each time.”

“But I`m happy to hear this banter. If it is underrated or overrated, I don`t know. But I`m happy until and unless you say that people like to watch me, it`s more than enough for me,” he says.

Sunny Hinduja says actors should not gym

As Jaideep Ahlawat once revealed, Sunny is a part of the Mazboot Actors Association, a close-knit WhatsApp group of around 20 actors who come from FTII. As interesting as the name sounds, we asked Sunny about the story behind the name.

“When we came to Bombay, we couldn`t find work. So we used to go to the gym. Okay. We thought, `Okay, there are actors, we should go to the gym.` But frankly speaking, I, as Sunny, as an actor, think actors should not go to the gym. That`s a different topic. But we decided, `We won`t go to the gym. We are already strong. We are strong without the gym. So, we are a strong actor association.` So, we came up with this name.”

Is the group still active after all these years? “Yes, it is active. Our group`s name is Majboot Actor Association. And in that, the display picture is Irrfan (Khan) Sahab.”