“I am inspired to learn every day, I am inspired to create everyday and achieve my goal, my dreams everyday”
VJ Andy (born Anand Vijay Kumar) , from Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom, now residing in Mumbai, India, is a popular name, thanks to his quirky personality and fun loving nature. After winning a million hearts in reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, VJ Andy was also seen in ‘India’s Got Talent’. Andy was born in a Punjabi Hindu family in the United Kingdom. He is notable for hosting Get Gorgeous 3 and Dare 2 Date on Channel V.
Nikita Nagwani: Who is the real Andy?
Andy: I think that this kind of question is kinda funny because a lot of people do know that I was on Bigg Boss a couple of years ago and since then I think people know me from the show and I would say Yes, to a certain extent, I am very much like the work on the show. I am someone who is very sensitive, someone who is very blunt and I don’t like to hold my emotions in. If I think something, it’s usually on my mouth. I don’t have any malice in my heart for anyone. I basically believe in ‘Live and let Live’ and ‘Love as much as you can and Laugh when it’s possible’ so that’s the point here! My life’s motive is – Live, Laugh, Love and Let go because forgiveness is divine. “To err is human, to forgive is divine”.
I have heard that in a lot of your interviews where you said; “I don’t dwell on past, I just let go”.
Yes, I believe it’s important because when you hold on to anything in life it’s like just forgetting yourself and I am probably someone who doesn’t have time to dwell in the past and I am somebody who is always ready to achieve more, get forward and think about new things. And in every single knock down, I get up stronger – That’s how I am.
Nikita Nagwani: How has your life changed after Bigg Boss?
Andy: Well, my life has changed a lot, I mean for the good. You know I have been super busy for the last two years and I have been doing really good work, I’ve had one movie released – ‘Ek paheli – leela’ and there’s another movie coming out in September. So it’s been lovely to be a part of bollywood and now I hope that continues! I have also done a lot of television shows since then and now I started to conceptualize and think more about how to create shows that I wanna be a part of. And I think that Indian television is coming to a place where its evolving and changing and becoming newer, fresher and I want to be a part of that newer-fresher change so I want to start creating shows that reflect a different kind of image.
Nikita Nagwani: You have been in the limelight after Bigg Boss and people watched the show really seriously. Were you surprised?
Andy: At that time – yes. I was surprised when I came out of the show and there was lot of love for me outside. You know living in a house where everyone’s telling you how evil you are and then you come out and people are like you are not that evil at all, and that was pretty lovely! But saying that two years from now, I could just say that, It was a wonderful journey of trust, discovery and I had been able to do a lot of things that I really wanted to do, a lot of dreams have come true. So I think that way life is amazing. But remember once you have had achievement then either you sit down and enjoy and then you finish up OR you continue to go forward and create more. And I am someone who wants to do so much more. I think this is one thing I’ve done and now I am looking towards future to create new things, new opportunities and new ideas. I think it’s important for me to always move forward and look for amazing things. I think it’s really important to keep your head down, keep your feet on the floor and keep going.
As they say ‘Success should never be taken to heart’. (Never be complacent after you’ve get some success).
Yes, absolutely. And I am from a working class background; I think a lot of people forget that. People always think that maybe I am from a high society but I am not. Everyone saw my mom on Bigg Boss, you can easily tell that we hail from a humble family, we work for what we believe in and that has always been the case. My mother always taught me, if you want to do anything you have to work towards it. If you are determined then you may achieve it, I mean that’s what brought me till here. And I am not going to forget that now. Honestly, since morning I have been just working whole day and you know not just today, I work every day. I make sure that I am doing 2 or 3 things a day. I am starting up a company right now so I am meeting different people. And it’s fun meeting them whether it’s for creation or for something else. I am also working on creating new television shows as well so I am just looking into that for the moment and keeping myself busy.
Nikita Nagwani: Please tell us about your new venture?
Andy: Well, it’s gonna be an online e-commerce site. It’s going to be around the bridal and wedding scene. It’s called the ‘thecholimaker.com’. And at the moment the page goes straight to my facebook page but it will be up in a month or so.
Nikita Nagwani: One learning that you took from Bigg Boss?
Andy: I got to learn about myself as in, how much patience I actually have and how much self belief I acquired within. It just made me stronger inside, internally I am stronger. I really realize that tomorrow the truth that comes within is always white. I have learned that my intuition is very strong and I have learned that I didn’t realize I was so patient. So there’s a lot of self realisation that has happened and because of that a lot of strength has come.
Nikita Nagwani: Do you think Bigg Boss has been lucky for you?
Andy: I believe that luck is something that you create. It’s about how positive you are as a person. And in that way I am very lucky.
Nikita Nagwani: What is your favourite memory of the Bigg Boss house?
Andy: I miss heaven (the dog). He was a lovely dog, such a sweetheart. And after I came out of the house, I found out where he was and I got to know that he was sold to someone in Delhi. So I haven’t really got to see him. I wanted to, but now I don’t know whether I would see him again. But I definitely think I want to buy a dog soon. May be; to fill the void (Laughs).
Nikita Nagwani: So are you going to name him ‘Heaven’?
Andy: No, I don’t think I would do that. That’s a separate dog naa, Heaven is Haven. We shouldn’t compromise at all. That was one dog that I really enjoyed being around and now if I’ll have a pet at all I will name him something else (Laughs).
Nikita Nagwani: From the very beginning you were inspired to be a part of entertainment industry or there was some other inspiration?
Andy: Well, actually I went to a dance school and I turned a choreographer. Then I was choreographing shows in London and I got to come to Bombay because a producer was making a film here he said, please come and choreograph for me and so I got to come and unfortunately that project didn’t take off the ground so I went back. Then something in me stirred once I came here, once I saw, I thought of coming back and hence I came back in 2003 and did a music video for ‘kaliyo ka chaman’ as a choreographer and that became a super hit over night, people literally went crazy. I was involved in a lot of music videos after that – in the same kind of format. Like in the first year I did 2 or 3 bollywood films called Nazar, Zeher, Page 3 with Madhur Bhandarkar. So I choreographed a lot of movie songs & music videos but then I went back to England to focus on choreography. When I came back, I realised that the industry was very hard to work in. Even though I had hits on my work it was still quite very hard to actually get the kind of work I wanted. So then I started being offered television work and I ended up becoming the face of channel V and I worked for channel V for 3 years and then I focussed on television mostly and then films are happening too. So as I feel I am very lucky.
So what is your inspiration?
I think I always was drawn to the entertainment industry from my childhood. I remember I was may be 6 yrs old and I always danced. I always gave performance in my school. My inspiration has always been, you know its actually funny to say this, but its bollywood – it has always been a part of my life growing up. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to come to bollywood. As a child growing up on ‘namak-halal’, I really wanted to create good work I always knew that I was going to be in a creative field.
Isn’t it like your dream come true? I mean you come to bollywood and things start to happen for you and there you are stepping the stones of success.
Well, yaa absolutely. I think a lot of people forget that I am just a guy who was born in England, I am very much a British boy. I came to India many years ago and I have just stuck it out I’ve made sure that I worked hard, stayed on track and do good work. But you know, that just continues… the journey goes on and so you have to keep going.
Nikita Nagwani: As you say that your mother has taught you to work hard and work every day I think that has what made you versatile. I mean you’ve done fashion styling, you are a video jockey, a host, a choreographer and now you’ve started acting as well. How did all of this come to you?
Andy: I don’t know. I just think I am blessed. What happened is I just make sure I create and I’ve made sure what I am doing I do it good – that’s my point. I am someone who is very detail oriented. If I feel that some details are missing I will go and look at them again. Like right now I am actually just working on creating new comedy styles in India, so I want to also be an entrepreneur and I also want to be a pioneer. I’ve got a burning fire, you know one thing when…when… How do I explain this to you (sounds thoughtful and continues). I am someone who needs to always do the next thing. Like since morning I have already spoken to may be 15 people about different things and I have to keep lists because there’s so much going on! But this is the way things happen. I am sure there are other people too who do this. That is why I think there are a lot of people, who want to get into the industry don’t see that you have to work every day, they don’t see that it’s not just going to shoot and coming back, it’s also about learning about yourself and the techniques. It’s about performance – there’s so much to do in a performance but you can learn at any age. Like right now for my company I know that I have to start designing stuff online and frankly I am someone who has not done enough online designing so what I’ll do is, I will start a course from July 15th and learn about how to design online and how to do CAD work and Photoshop and all these things. So that when I start doing my business I am absolutely ready and I have the technique and all the tools I need. And then I also want to learn to sing again, I mean I use to sing, in England when I was a kid until the age of 17. But I haven’t gone back to singing so I am thinking it will be awesome for me to start learning to sing Hindustani Sangeet, why not? If I have the time then I should put my mind into something that will give me a lot of focus and new creative outlook. So that’s what I am focussing on getting lot of things, and I want to make sure that whatever I do I have my thing in it. Because when you are in an industry where there’s so much of diversity there’s so much happening in Bombay, in L.A, in London, you have to make sure that you too have a lot of different things happening. You know, what’s really interesting about this conversation is that I am also realising, as I am speaking, that somewhere(thinks) there are lot of people who come to Bombay to make it, they all come here thinking that, I’ll go there I’ll get a TV serial or I’ll get a movie or I want to be a hero but how many of those people have actually gone and studied about this and said this is what I want to do and this is what I want to give…I mean when you become an engineer, you study right? So when you want to become an actor or a singer or any kind of performer, do you not think you have to learn to do that? Research you know?!
Of course, but isn’t it like some people are born with the talent?
Of course, they are. But how many people are going to be born with the talent? I think even if people who are born with the natural talent, at some level would still learn about the industry. If we have more people in the industry who actually are more learned and who have gone and taken the time to understand their craft, our whole industry will only be lifted by it. So it’s a good thing. For me, I think learning never finishes and it is a continuous process. We go to doctors every day, right. And if you ask a doctor they are always learning. As people we are evolving as bodies are evolving similarly even doctors have to keep evolving, lawyers, actors everyone has to keep evolving.
Nikita Nagwani: Who or what inspired you to get into fashion styling?
Andy: You know its little funny…umm… (Thinks), before I went to dance school, which is university for me, I had done photography and textile design and English literature as my subject. Textile design was always something that interested me from a young age. So creating clothes, creating interesting styling ideas was always something that I wanted to get into but because I went to dance school I ended up focusing more on performing rather than design. So when I had the chance to come back to designing in Bollywood, it was something that I always wanted to do. So what I did was I partnered with a person who was a very good stylist and had gone to school of design so I got to learn a lot of styling and designing element from her and when I started learning and understanding more about what she had learned – It was a lovely learning for me and then I decided that it is something that I would like to also try. So we worked together for 2-3 years and I understood a lot of things it a bit better. Quite frankly, my online website will be about design, would be about styling so basically now I am going back to learning a lot of things that I would need for the website. She always used to say – I am always perfect when it comes to styling or may be clothing, hence I decided to pursue the same. It has been an extension to my personality.
Nikita Nagwani: Who according to you is a style icon in Bollywood?
Andy: In the 80s we had Sridevi then it went to Madhuri Dixit in the 90s and then in the 2000 it was quite a mix phase, I would say. Presently on the world front, it’s Sonam Kapoor who represented India very well. Her fashion sense has really put India on the map, commendable. She’s done very well and I would also say that behind her success is her sister, Riya Kapoor, because she is her stylist. So, both these sisters are style icons.
In the males I would say, Amitabh Bachchan has his own distinct unique style which I don’t think any of the new boys have managed to overdo yet.
Nikita Nagwani: Please share with us your experience of Dare2Date. That was quite a popular show among youngsters.
Andy: Dare2Date is a show, close to my heart because somewhere where I got a lot of success. And it was me being ‘me’. People think it’s very hard to be yourself on Television but it was the first time I was on television and I was allowed to just be exactly who I am. Basically, there was no acting, no script and no pretending, I was told the person I was to meet and I would go and just talk to them. And people appreciated the show because it was the first time that audience got to see real people talking to each other specially about dating, which is relatively a new concept in India. We have been doing Dare2Date since 2007 but the culture is only such that Dating is little bit sometimes sound upon. It’s a western concept which is not that new to India. The show is like a mirror that reflects where the country is and where the youth are. It’s deeper than a funny, entertaining show.
Nikita Nagwani: Do you think dare2date was a turning point in your career?
Andy: The turning point for me has to be, Big boss. Because before that channel V was something I really enjoyed, I loved being part of the youth sector and it’s something I wanna do more of. And GEC (General Entertainment Channel) is sometimes quite alien to me, I am like – What’s happening 
! I feel I can’t be my selves completely. Since in Bigg Boss I was myself I worked beautifully. The moment I am given the freedom to be who I am, I am my best! The couple of shows that I have done I have been made to be someone else and the audience has not accepted it and I have also not enjoyed it. I love who I am and I am comfortable in my skin so I don’t need to change my selves for anybody and that again comes from having good high morale that is given to me by my mother.
Nikita Nagwani: What is the biggest challenge that you’ve faced until now?
Andy: The biggest hurdle that I’ve probably faced is that, a lot of people think I can’t speak Hindi. I don’t know what happens people get uneasy or something and they’re like, you can speak Hindi naa? And I tell them, of course! But it’s also that Hindi was my 3rd language. I am much more fluent in English and Punjabi. But now I am fluent in Hindi because I have lived in India for long enough and I’ve made sure I’ve learned exactly what I need people to understand. So, basically Hindi is not my challenge, my challenge is that people think I don’t speak Hindi.
Nikita Nagwani: How is Andy different when it comes to reel life and real life?
Andy: I think on television we are presented very loud and very crazy at times. I am known as outspoken, blunt and very mad all these things are very much part of my personality and my life also but you’ll find that I am not as loud in my life, I am funny though but I am also very sensitive and peaceful person. I meditate a lot, I am a yoga practitioner and I like a lot of shanti (laughs).
Nikita Nagwani: According to you how real are the reality shows?
Andy: If we talk about Bigg Boss, we were in the house and it was all real, there was no script and nothing like that. So for me, Bigg Boss was real! But what’s happening on the production side, who is making decisions, you can’t be sure about it right! What you’re served on the Television are highlights, it’s not the whole truth. It’s also what they want you to see. But I m not saying it hasn’t happened not that it was choreographed or directed. It has happened for real but the way that it is packaged together and shown is how the story is told.
Nikita Nagwani: What is your driving force, your strength?
Andy: My strength is my family, my love for my family and the love they give to me that is something that I feel is very important in my life and keeps me driven. I want to achieve more for them and I always try to do better.
Nikita Nagwani: What is your take on Gay Marriage?
Andy: I think it’s a wonderful thing that gay marriage has been approved all over America; it’s already there in the UK. I think it would be lovely for India also to at least make homosexuality legal now. I think everyone, no matter who they are, deserve to love who they want to and it’s important that everybody get to be who they are and don’t have to lie. So it’s important for India to at least legalise homosexuality if not marriage.
Nikita Nagwani: What is the most exciting thing about being a celeb?
Andy: The love that we get from fans is the most exciting thing. I feel, that’s the best thing in the world! When people recognize you, when they get excited, the reaction on their face – that’s the best reward in the whole world. It’s their love that you’re there for. When people ask for photos at stop me at dinner, I never get irritated, because I know where it is coming from, it’s the place of love.
#Rapid Fire:
Video Jockey or Fashion Styling (pick one) – Video Jockey
Overnight success? – Doesn’t last very long
One thing you regret not doing? – I don’t regret. I do what I believe in
Your favourite fashion brand? – In Indian brands, Rohit Bal, I love his jackets
Your celebrity crush? – Madhuri Dixit
A competitor you envy? – (Thinks) Competitor in which way? I have so many careers naa… Let’s just say – Kapil Sharma(almost shouts and laughs uncontrollably until I ask the next question!)
A message for your fans? – Your love is what keeps me going!
One question you would want me to ask you? – How much gold would I like for my birthday?
How much gold would you like on your birthday? – Zero (Laughs).
Randomized Me 
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