Born on May 16, 1988, Vicky Kaushal is the son of popular stuntman-turned-action director Sham Kaushal. In 2015, Vicky made his Bollywood debut with the critically acclaimed Masaan and cemented his place in Hindi film industry by giving power-packed performances in films such as Raman Raghav 2.0, Love per Square Foot, Raazi, Sanju and Manmarziyaan. But it was Uri: The Surgical Strike that proved to be the turning point of his career. (All photos/Vicky Kaushal's official Instagram account)

But before Masaan, did you know Vicky Kaushal made his acting debut in Anurag Kashyap's most-talked-about film Gangs of Wasseypur? While the fact that Vicky Kaushal played a young Omi (Kunal Kapoor's character) in Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, is not new, he has had faced camera even before that.

In picture: The cute little Vicky with the infamous soldier hair cut which every child has to go with that do but instead makes him look too adorable.

"It's the scene where Nagma Khatoon [Richa Chadha] goes to a brothel. Last-minute, everyone [junior artistes] that we'd rounded up in Benares refused to participate in that scene, once they realised it's a brothel. The entire direction team stood-in for them. I'm that silhouette you see behind the window-grille, overacting karte hue, when Nagma Khatoon is cursing Sardar Khan [Manoj Bajpayee]! That was the first time I faced a camera," said Vicky Kaushal to mid-day.

In picture: Richa Chadha, Neeraj Ghaywan, Shweta Tripathi and Vicky Kaushal at Cannes Film Festival, ahead of the screening of their film Masaan.

But, even before this, Vicky Kaushal had made his acting debut with filmmaker Michael Winterbottom's Trishna, a film which eventually never saw the light of the day in India.

In picture: Vicky and Sunny's fanboy moment with Hrithik Roshan. "My first time on a film set (Fiza) and the reason was to see this phenomena in flesh and blood. KNPH had just come out and I was a crazy fan like many others. Someone told me that he only meets kids who can dance on 'Ek pal ka jeena' (obviously I was getting fooled), but I believed that and rehearsed and practiced dancing on the song for 3 days before meeting him. When I finally met, he was the sweetest person ever. Probably the only time I have stared at another human being for hours at stretch... coz may be for me he was not just a purush, he was a mahapurush. Inspiration... then, now and forever. Hrithik Roshan! #throwback along with biraadar @sunsunnykhez," captioned Vicky on his Instagram page.

Talking about the same, Vicky said, "Yes, that was the first time I faced the camera, and you could see my face! Michael Winterbottom was making a film called Trishna, with Freida Pinto. We'd just finished shooting Gangs of Wasseypur in March, 2011, and I had these braces, and was an AD. I had gone to my native place in Punjab with family, when I got a call from Anurag Kashyap, and he said, "Item number karega (Will you do an item number)?" I was like, what? He said, it's a Michael Winterbottom film, and Huma [Qureshi] and I will dance, and that he's acting in it as well, it'll be fun."

In picture: The photograph shared by Vicky Kaushal is from the sets of Shah Rukh Khan's film, Asoka. On the other hand, he also shared a picture of himself sharing the stage with the Dilwale actor at an award function. Time flies, literally!

Explaining the character in detail, Vicky added further, "So, Trishna, that's Freida's character in the film, comes to Bombay from Rajasthan, and a friend of hers takes her to a film-set. There's a song being shot with choreographer Ganesh Acharya, which is being picturised between Huma and I [in the film, within the film]. That song was also supposed to be the promotional track for the film, like [Slumdog Millionaire's] Jai Ho! But the film never released [in India]."

"It was a proper song. But in the film, it's a scene. I was wearing this shimmery black, typically item-number costume, which I was very conscious of. I had no idea how it feels to be before a camera, with 50 back-up dancers, and 200 people around. So, my body is dancing, but my face is like this [frozen]. Ganesh Acharya sir, who was very sweet, came up to me and said, "You're dancing well. Now just dance from your face!" Of course, with several retakes, we got it right," said Vicky.

In picture: Vicky celebrating his birthday as a child with that wide smile on his face which he still carries with him.

You'll be surprised to know that Vicky Kaushal's first audition was for the friend's role in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag [2013]. However, that part got heavily edited out. "In that audition, I realised that I don't know anything about acting," confessed Kaushal.

In picture: Vicky Kaushal with Uri: The Surgical Strike director Aditya Dhar.

Vicky Kaushal had even auditioned for Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan-starrer Ghanchakar [2013]. Namit Das did that role, finally. "I still remember, the character's name was Idris. That was a great role," said Vicky.

In picture: Vicky Kaushal with his father Sham Kaushal, mother Veena Kaushal and brother-actor Sunny Kaushal.

Well, you will be [again] be surprised to know that Vicky's debut vehicle Masaan too was initially offered to Rajkummar Rao. How Masaan landed into Kaushal's kitty, is yet another interesting tale! Vicky had even seen the pilot promo of Masaan featuring Rajkummar already.

In picture: Vicky as an adolescent kid with chubby cheeks makes him all the cuter.

Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan, Vicky and the entire AD team of Gangs of Wasseypur were going to Pune. During the journey, Neeraj spoke to Vicky about a film he was trying to make, with a title, Raand Saandh Seedhi Sanyaasi. He showed Kaushal the pilot-promo, which pretty much impressed the actor. The cast was Rajkummar Rao for the part Vicky [eventually] played, when the film became Masaan. There was Manoj Bajpayee for the part played by Sanjay Mishra, Richa Chadha, and Shweta Tripathi. That was the promo of the film!

In picture: Vicky Kaushal on the sets of his film Manmarziyaan (2018).

'Raand Saandh Seedhi Sanyaasi' had to be shot in October during Durga Puja for the song Tu Kisi Rail Si. If they missed the deadline, they'd have to shoot the following year, which they couldn't afford. But, Rajkummar Rao couldn't make it during the time, so that slot became open. The makers were looking for new actors and so they auditioned Vicky, and the rest is history!

In picture: Vicky portraying the role of Jesus Christ during his school fancy dress competition.

In picture: Vicky with kid brother Sunny seems to assure him he will be always by his side forever as a big brother.

In picture: Vicky Kaushal shared the photo on his Instagram account. The photograph was clicked in 1988. In the picture, the little one is sitting inside the fridge, and Vicky called himself a "fridge potato". Vicky's brother Sunny Kaushal was quick to comment on the picture saying, "Yaar matlab hadd hoti hai compliment fetch karneki.. hot toh tu hai.. ab cuteness ka bhi khata kholega kya?!?!" (It's heights now to fetch compliments for yourself. No doubt that you are hot, will you even snatch the account of being cute?)"

In picture: The Kaushal brothers! Don't they look adorable?

On the personal front, Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif tied the knot in a close-knit ceremony on 9 December 2021 in Rajasthan. 

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Vicky Kaushal!