Vijay Deverakonda on 'Kingdom' and Why Box Office Dry Spell Hasn't 'Broken' Him: 'Made My Career Without Anyone Guiding Me'

Contrary to what a section in the trade is feeling, Vijay Deverakonda isn't looking at his upcoming release, Kingdom, as a "make or break" film. He has seen highs and lows before, and Deverakonda reflects at this current professional stage with clarity: He can learn from failures, but they can't break him.

Kingdom, directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri—who helmed the Hindi and Telugu versions of Jersey—will be Deverakonda's grand release of 2025 after a string of underperformers at the box office, including The Family Star (2024), romantic drama Kushi (2023) co-starring Samantha, and his 2022 pan-India biggie Liger, which was a disaster.

"Everything makes you a little and everything breaks you a little," the actor tells The Hollywood Reporter India as he opens up about his current career phase.

"It's part of the journey. Everything is an experience that makes you a different person in a little way and breaks some parts of you, be it success or failure, it's constantly happening. I don't think anything can make me or break me in the sense that the sentence implies, like it is the end or it is the rise," he says.

The actor muses about the mounting pressure on him to deliver with the spy thriller while reflecting on how he has always emerged stronger, better and braver after every curveball life threw at him.

"I was made when I was born. I was made when, at five, my parents put me in a boarding school and I learned to survive without them. I was made when I got into my first fight and came out with fewer bruises than the other guy. I was made when I could defuse the first fight in my class. I was made the many times I got into trouble and put my chin up to face it without going to my daddy to solve it. I was made when I chose my career and made it by myself on my own two feet without anybody to handhold me or guide me. So I think there's nothing in this life that can ever make or break me," Deverakonda says.

The actor agrees that failure is a better teacher than success, as one tends to reflect a lot more, but when it comes to him, he doesn't mind failing as long as they are all his choices.

Nonetheless, all eyes will be on Kingdom, which will be his first major pan-India film since Dharma Productions backed Liger in 2022. A lot has changed in three years, especially in the box office landscape of Indian films, where movies like Pushpa 2, KGF2, Jawan, Pathaan and RRR have crossed ₹1000 crore worldwide.

Has the extension of the box office ceiling put pressure on him today, where the audience expects a certain number from a Deverakonda film? "Our ambitions are to grow; you want the maximum number of people to watch and enjoy your film. We don't get pleasure out of a small, well-appreciated film," he says.

But Deverakonda is aware that to get the highest number of footfalls, his choices must also reflect a certain "quality" of film. It doesn't mean leaning towards "action or gore films", a genre most associated with Indian blockbusters of late.

"It could be something like 12th Fail (2023), which I watched and loved like so many others. The film left me deeply inspired. I wondered what I could do to provide scholarships for people to pursue IAS. Such was the impact. So that's one thing. Our budgets and remunerations have increased, and we all want to do big stuff. What's also happening is that we are getting desensitised to emotions, and hence, you have to keep upping the stakes to make people feel something. That's why the heroism has reached a point of antagonising level, the action is becoming really gory. You're having to stimulate everything," he signs off.