Vikrant Koul plays Shakur Akhtar in Gold.
Actor Vikrant Koul plays Shakur Akhtar in Reema Kagti’s Gold. In an exclusive chat with indianexpress.com, the actor, who has been part of movies like Mardaani and Fan, says the wait for Gold was worth it.
Talking about his role in Gold, Vikrant said, “I play Shakur Akhtar who hails from Meerut and he is the only Muslim hockey player in the team. He faces a dilemma as his friends and relatives go over to Pakistan but he never ever doubts his decision and proves his love towards his country. I had to go through five months of hockey and fitness training, but that wasn’t a huge task as I have been an athlete from my school days. I had never played hockey, and it was amazing to learn that.”
Vikrant Koul also made friends for life on the sets of Gold, which also stars Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh, Vineet Singh and Sunny Kaushal. He said, “Well, I am lucky to have been part of this team as now I have found real-life friends. From the training period to rehearsals and look tests, we had so much time with each other even before the shooting began, and thus it made the journey much more fun. There was real team spirit that we enjoyed.”
Vikrant Koul made his Bollywood debut with Mardaani.
Working with Akshay Kumar was a fantastic experience, says Koul. “Akshay sir is not just a brilliant actor, but his presence on the sets keeps everyone active. Even in the UK schedule, we would get up at 4 am and be ready at 7 am call time, and he will walk in and make us play games in between shots. With him around, there is never a dull moment. Reema ma’am and Ritesh sir too joined us a couple of times. In fact, on our day off, we used to play cricket and the winning team used to get money. It was great learning how he has no air of the superstar that he is,” said the Gold actor.
Gold hit screens on August 15, 2018.