Delli ki kuddi Riya Vij is waiting to see how the audiences react to her bindaas character in her debut film Gippy under Dharma Productions. It is a hatke film but her character is very real, the vivacious 14-year-old tells Deebashree Mohanty
Delhi-based Riya Vij is a busy girl these days. No, not because her final school exams are due but because she awaits the result of her biggest ‘extra curricular’ test — a test she desperately wants to pass in awaal number.
“I can’t wait for my debut film Gippy to hit the sliver screen in May. I am so so so excited. First, my classmates did not believe that I had landed the lead role in a Dharma Productions film. They said I was bluffing. Even now, some of them are not convinced that I am the Gurpreet Kaur from the film. I have decided that I will take everyone in my class for the movie as a treat,” Vij says. The teenager cancelled her trip to Manali so that she could be around for the release of her film.
It was luck by chance that landed Vij the role of her lifetime, something that could make for a Farah Khan drama. “It was my best friend who was fervently preparing for the role when she heard about the Delhi auditions.
She would practice daily, even missed school for a couple of days to look her best. She dragged me along to give her company. But it so happened that the crew was looking for a girl-next-door, some plain Jane like me and not a well made out pari like my friend. So they asked me to audition too.
“I did it for a lark but they so loved it that they asked to see my parents to finalise the deal. My friend was maha upset. Didn’t speak with me for weeks. I gifted her so many things but it took her a long time to come to terms with this. Thankfully, she is fine now and we are back to being best friends,” Vij tells you.
The young and bubbly Vij, however, prefers to give interviews with her mother on stand by. “Abhi nayee hoon, kuch gadbad ho gayi toIJ,” she tells you with refreshing innocence.
A Class VIII student of the Mater Dei school in the Capital, Vij is an average student not too interested in studies. She absolutely hates Maths or anything to do with numbers. But that doesn’t stop this girl from having big dreams.
“After the wonderful experience I had while shooting for Gippy, I desperately want to make Bollywood my new home. Now I understand why people die to be in the film industry. But if it doesn’t work out for me, I do have a Plan B ready. I also want to become a dentist or a wildlife photographer. I am a creative person,” she insists. Vij learns piano and is a basketball champion in school.
Fond of food, Vij is happy she was never teased about being fat in school. “I am friendly with everyone and confident about my weight. It all depends on how you carry it. In the movie, Gippy goes through all the emotions a teenager faces when she enters that awkward age. My mother loved the script and wanted me to do the film. She said I was lucky to be working with such a big banner and for such a great script,” she says.
Vij’s father is an entrepreneur and mother a homemaker but she is closest to her and 18 year-old elder sister.
“I cannot live without my family. Even if I get a lot of offers from Bollywood, I will keep Delhi as my base. I will have to lose weight to become a proper heroine but tab ki tab dekhi jaegi,” she says.
Way to go, girl!