After completing work on the film, Kaushal found it difficult to distance from the character and began to stammer in real life.[2] His performance led Justin Chang of Variety to label him as a "charismatic, naturally engaging talent".[20] In Kashyap's psychological thriller Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), Kaushal played a drug-addicted police officer in pursuit of the serial killer Raman Raghav (portrayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui).[5] The troubled and unbalanced character had little in common with Kaushal's own personality, and to convince Kashyap to cast him, he lived in isolation for five days and kept repeating lines from the script.[4] Writing for Rediff.com, Aseem Chhabra found his performance "brave" and added, "If there is one big surprise in Raman Raghav 2.0, it is Vicky Kaushal’s star-making performance."[21] Both Zubaan and Raman Raghav 2.0 failed to find a wide audience at the box office.[22]