Akshara is the most amazing person in the world: Vivaan on his ex-GF

He's a star kid in his own right with a great lineage in the form of acclaimed parents, Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah. And now Vivaan will be seen in Farah Khan's Happy New Year along with stalwarts like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Abhishek Bachchan. He recalls about his journey so far with Times of India. And this what he had to say about bagging an important role in Happy New Year, "I was called for a screen test by a casting director and later learnt that it was for a film directed by Farah Khan starring Shah Rukh Khan. I gave the first round and then met Farah for a second round. She asked me, 'Are you a good dancer?' I lied and said, 'Ya, ya' thinking that it would help my chances of getting the role. But she said, 'Shit, we needed a bad dancer.' I said, 'No, no. I am actually a bad dancer.' And I got the role."

The most obvious thing was to know about his father from his perspective. "He is the most sensitive human being ever and someone who genuinely empathises with people. He has always told me that acting is all about empathising. No one can have the interest and passion that he has in his craft. We have a very honest relationship, but I am intimidated by him as well."

Vivaan's favourite Naseeruddin Shah movie is Jalwa. And he believes that his father was the first one to make a body in the film industry. "He was the first actor in the industry to make a body. That is even before Salman Khan. Salman Khan was not the first person to build his body. My dad was. People keep going on about how he is anti commercial cinema and how he is art house, but let me tell you that when he did commercial cinema, he did it as good as the best in the business. He believes that there should not be a category such as commercial and art-house films. There are just good films and bad films. We should make films which are interesting and tell great stories."

Vivaan was also dating Kamal Haasan's younger daughter Akshara for two years before parting ways. Vivaan shared, "We were dating for about two years before she broke up with me a year back just after I had begun to shoot Happy New Year. We are still very good friends and she is the most amazing person in the world, very talented and a beautiful human being. I learnt a lot from it and have become more mature now. Both my real family and my family from Happy New Year helped me a lot. Shah sir and Abhishek kept telling me, 'The pain you face in your life is your ammunition as an actor and this is what you have to hold on to.'"