Vinay Virmani Mixes Culture and Hockey in Breakaway

Breakaway takes on cultural issues set against the backdrop of Canada's national sport.

Breakaway, a family-friendly film about following your dreams while staying true to yourself, features Toronto actor Vinay Virmani. Virmani wrote and starred in the film, making this his debut in both fields.

The film tells the story of young Rajveer Singh, a Sikh who wants to play professional hockey. His parents do not approve or understand his passion, so without their support he starts an all-Sikh hockey team. The team, affectionately named the Speedy Singhs, sets out to play hockey and change the status quo.

Youthink caught up with Virmani to chat about hockey and the inspiration behind his new film.

YT: This is your debut as an actor and as a writer. How are you feeling?
VV: I feel good. I'm a little nervous; it's your baby [and] you're putting it out to the world, but I'm feeling fairly confident. We had a great reaction at [the Toronto International Film Festival]. The screening went really well, the movie was appreciated and now I'm just looking forward to families coming out to see it.

YT: So what inspired the film?
VV: What inspired the film was where I was in my life about two years ago. I was in the same mindframe then as my character, Rajveer Singh, is in the movie. It was about being a young South Asian who had chosen an unconventional career path. I was wanting to be actor, wanting to be in the movie industry and basically trying to figure out, "Is this what I'm good at?" Similarly, Raj wants to play pro hockey. So, basically I finished acting school and moved back to Toronto. I had been in New York, and I was auditioning, reading some scripts and nothing was really happening so I thought about how I would wanna see myself onscreen and what story would I have to tell. So I basically I took some elements from my life and I came up with this little family story.

YT: So would you say that your character is very similar to yourself?
VV: In some ways. I feel that even though Rajveer Singh is Indian, he has problems relating to his own identity and his own cultural things that a lot of people will be able to relate to. I think we always find ourselves at a time where we don't know what our calling is in life. So I think he's a very relatable character.

YT: Did you know that you wanted to play Rajveer?
VV: I thought to myself, "How do I wanna see myself onscreen?" Every actor has that role that they wanna portray. So I was really blessed that the role I was really passionate about, I got to play it, and I got to tell his story.

YT: Why did you chose hockey as a way to tell this story?
VV: Hockey is a backdrop for this movie. It's a vehicle to move the story and to bring out certain cultural issues. But at the same time it's our national game and we're are very proud of it, but I feel there are some racial barriers in the game and there have been in the past. So the issue was how we bring down those racial barriers.

See Vinay Virmani star in Breakaway  –  in select theatres now.