Exclusive| Vikrant Massey on Independence Day: India's the place to be today, tomorrow, we're headed in right direction

HE is in s America, shot for edward d. White, we in India- but everything comes unitedly for the enjoy of the country. Here’s presenting Vikrant Massey for our Independence Day special edition, posing for HT City in his first interview after winning the National Award for Best Actor for his 2023 hit 12th Fail.On his National Award shared with Shah Rukh Khan for Jawan, he tells us, “I was very happy that I got it and that too for 12th Fail. A National Award is the highest form of validation or accolade any actor can get in India. I am happy that I shared it with Mr Shah Rukh Khan, yeh hum dono ka pehla National Award tha. It was a privilege to share it with him.”Also read: SRK, Rani Mukerji, Vikrant Massey win top honoursAs a kid, I-day felt like a bonus holiday from school, isn’t it?During school it used to be one of the most special days! I used to always have aloo-poori with shreekhand and kheer. We would sleep till 8-8:30am, wake up to Ae Mere Watan by Lata Mangeshkar ji, it was our alarm. But as we grew up, I understood the significance of today. It’s a great moment to reflect on what our forefathers have gone through to make our world.As a parent yourself now to a one-and-a-half year old son, how differently do you look at the day?As a father today, there are values I want to inculcate in my child: to value what our forefathers have gone through. We are a 76-year old free country, par aisi generation hai around me who don’t know the significance. I hope I am able to inculcate in Vardhaan- the importance of togetherness, freedom, which we unfortunately take for granted today. I learnt much later in life that my maternal grandfather, during the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by General Dyer, was there and shot in the arm. He survived by hiding underneath a dead body. Partition ke waqt bhi jab Pakistan se India aaye the log apne desh mein… sarzameen ki value bachpan se di gayi hai humein, hearing all this.Are we headed in the right direction as a country?Absolutely. I feel India is the place to be. Fortunately, due to the nature of my job and after travelling the world, after all these years, I am able to very proudly say I am an Indian. India is the place to be in today, tomorrow and for years to come.In films, we have seen jingoism as a form of patriotism, with chest thumping and sloganeering rampant. Then there’s patriotism which is internal and reflects in actions and thoughts, without wearing it on one’s sleeve blatantly. Which is the correct definition of patriotism?Patriotism is a mixed bag of everything. Today we have come up with new terms like ‘cancel culture’. My forefathers chest thumped about their patriotism. Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh all of them wore it on their sleeve. Apne desh se pyaar karna, kuchh vichaar karna, ya society mein aake vichaar vyakt karna, due to the cancel culture, that has been assigned different terminologies today. I don’t feel it’s right. Also, what you do for your country is equally important. We keep seeing in the news every now and then what our government and the country is doing for us. Why don’t we ask what we are doing for the country? It could begin with the smallest of things. Afsos iss baat ka hota hai that our fellow countrymen, when outside the country for 10 days, will follow that particular country’s rules and say, ‘yeh desh kitna saaf hai’. They will use the zebra crossing… we don’t want to follow that in our country. Kahin bhi kachra fenk dete hain. Har cheez ke liye sarkaar ya desh pe ungli nahi utha sakte.