KOCHI: With his expressive eyes, starry look and flying hair, he delivered the dialogues of Dulquer Salman from the climax scene of popular film Charlie. Vijay Johny attempted this dubsmash spurred on by friend and famous dubsmasher Sowbhagya Venkitesh, who enacted Parvathy’s role in the video.
Though the dubsmash was made a year back, it has started going viral on social media and gaining attention for Vijay, when Sowbhagya shared the video again to mark a year of its making.
“It was when she tagged me in the post I realised it was a year since we did the dubsmash. Now the video is getting more popular than when we first uploaded it,” said Vijay, a Thrissur native currently working in the UAE as a diamond valuator. He said he was never keen on dubsmash, but was attracted by Sowbhagya’s work.
“We became friends via Instagram and when Sowbhagya asked me to do a dubsmash with her, I couldn’t refuse. First, we did on a scene from Ok Kanmani which was well-received, prompting us to try the Charlie sequence,” he added. Though the long dialogue was initially a stumbling block for Vijay, he gave it a go and he did 10 or more takes to get the lip sync right. He is getting great feedback for the video, with most of them specifically being about his hair. “My hair is a big strength for me. I take care of it like a baby,” he said.
Vijay said he received a lot of messages from people saying his dubsmash is one of their favourites. Though some say he looks like Dulquer or Telugu actor Arjun Reddy, he doesn’t feel so. He said people have also started to recognise him in public asking him,” Aren’t you the guy from the Charlie dubsmash video?”“Many other websites have also shared our dubsmash and it is popular across social media. For me, who did it just for my friend, it is quite a surprise,” he said.
Vijay, who has just completed the shoot for his debut film Kinavalli, thinks the dubsmash video played an integral part in his selection. He said director Sugeeth noticed him after seeing his pictures on Facebook but the decision was finalised after seeing the dubsmash. He highlighted that recently a few film-makers have approached him but he is yet to commit to any other project and wants to concentrate completely on his debut venture. “As the film is slated for a July-end release, I have not thought about doing any dubsmash. In the meantime, I am enjoying my current fame,” he said.