Vedang Raina stole the limelight as Reggie Mantle in The Archies, directed by Zoya Akhtar. That marked his OTT debut in 2023.
2024 was special to him as he made his theatrical debut with Jigra, playing Alia Bhatt’s onscreen brother. The film, however, did not have an impressive box office run.
Looking back at the learnings he has gained in 2024, the young actor spoke about the importance of patience. How it’s essential to focus on the time when you don’t have a film or it’s not out, as much as one needs to value the precious moments on set.
Speaking about how Jigra did not perform as anticipated, he said, “It was special to be a part of a film like this with Alia. With Vasan Bala sir directing and Karan Johar backing it, it was always a big deal. I couldn’t have ever dreamt for that to happen in my second film. It meant a lot, so a lot of positives from there.”
Adding on to how the box-office failure impacted him, he said, “As an actor, you put in the work for over a year for a project. You want the audience to like it, enjoy it, receive it in a good way, be entertained and be moved. These are the things that we aim for. We do all the mehnat behind the scenes to get some sort of validation and appreciation for our work, and for people to enjoy it.”
Furthermore, he said, “So, when that kind of goes a miss, or some people react a certain way, you question what you could have done better, what things could have gone differently. It’s a very natural way of dealing with things.”
He concluded by saying that the aim is to use the constructive criticism from Jigra and use it to get better at his craft. Lots of learnings ahead as he’s just completed one year at the movie
