'Speedy Singhs is a cross-cultural family comedy'

With his maiden Indo-Canadian venture Speedy Singhs (to be released as Breakaway outside India), Akshay Kumar launches Vinay Virmani, the son of his close friend, Canadian entrepeneur Ajay Virmani, who is also the film’s co-producer. For the first time, Vinay speaks to TOI about his association with AK.
What is Speedy Singhs about?
Speedy Singhs is a cross-cultural family comedy based in Toronto, Canada.It is about the immigrant experience and the generation gap between parents and children. It is also about following your dreams and simultaneously living up to your parents’ expectations. My character Rajveer Singh learns never to give up and never change who he is. To me, that message is special.
How did Speedy Singhs happen for you?
I always knew I wanted to be in films. About two years ago, when I moved to New York and studied at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, I truly began to connect to the craft of performance. I’d been reading a lot of scripts and auditioning, but nothing connected. One night, I sat down and thought about what my dream role would be and before I knew it, this story came alive. Akshay happened to be in Toronto not long after and I told him about my story. Akshay loves ice hockey, so he was intrigued about bringing this fast-paced sport on screen. He gave me fine-tuning points and I soon began scripting. A few months later, we were rolling!
So you’ve co-scripted Speedy Singhs?
Yes, I was very involved with the writing. Several elements of Rajveer’s character are inspired from my life. The issues that he faces being born and brought up as an Indo-Canadian and trying to find his calling in life – these are things I went through too. A lot of that comes across in the story.
You insisted Akshay do a cameo as himself in the film too...
There was a very important story element in the film that needed to be revealed in a special way. It needed weight and it had to be one of those big cinematic moments.
Tell us about the most challenging scene you had to do in the film.
Shooting the ice hockey scenes. Usually, a hockey game lasts a few hours. When you’re shooting choreographed ice hockey scenes, you can sometimes be on the ice for 12 hours! It’s cold, the equipment is heavy and it’s physically exhausting.