"The first time I saw Gully Boy, I wanted to shout from rooftops," smiles Vijay Varma. Essaying the role of Ranveer Singh's childhood friend Moeen in the film, the actor has walked away with a bulk of praise. He says it is to director Zoya Akhtar's credit that the supporting actors too had the opportunity to hold their own in a film that has stellar leads in Singh and Alia Bhatt.

"Zoya made sure every character is fleshed out. Almost 90 per cent of Moeen was on paper, only a few things were impromptu such as the rap sequence at the Benetton store. It was Ranveer's idea." Ask him if he questioned his character's moral compass, and he says, "Life is hard in the demographic he belongs to. It's difficult to bring food to the table. Murad [Singh's character] too could have turned that way, but Moeen doesn't let him get reduced to that."