He’s always marched to a different drummer and Ajay Devgan makes it clear he’s not in the mood to mellow down just now, finds Shubha Shetty-Saha
Ajay Devgan looks a bit flustered — quite a departure from his usually cool and collected self. Is it the lukewarm opening to ‘Halla Bol’ bothering him? Apparently not.
“I knew ‘Halla Bol’ wouldn’t have such a great opening. It’s not really a commercial film and wasn’t high on ‘entertainment’.
A multiplex viewer who’s shelling out about Rs 2000 if he has to take out his whole family, will definitely look for the entertainment factor.
But such movies catch on after word-of-mouth publicity. I will continue doing such films for my own creative satisfaction.
I can always do films like ‘Sunday’ (a comic thriller, his next release) if I am looking for commercial success. I do look forward to hits, but it’s imperative to also do films like ‘Halla Bol’ for my own sake,” he says.
We discover that he is actually hassled about two things — one, his mother hurt her wrist during a visit to Siddhivinayak temple, and two, a tabloid story about the Khans (Aamir and Shah Rukh) being upset with him.
The buzz is that a few dialogues in ‘Halla Bol’ seem to be targeting them. “Tell me, is there any dialogue in the film that implies anything about another actor?
There is no rivalry between any of the Khans and me. They are fine in their place and I in my own. I’m not really bothered about who thinks what about me. I have always lived life on my own terms and conditions, and I’ll continue to do so. Whatever success I have managed to get is only on my conditions. There have been no compromises. There is no anxiety either.”
In ‘Halla Bol’ his character takes undue advantage of superstardom. Has he done that in real life?, “I might have taken advantage of my star status but unwittingly. Sometimes you simply ask for something and it’s considered a demand — and things take on a different colour,” he says with a cheeky smile.
Ask him if maintaining success is tougher and he says candidly, “It is tough. But I have been around for a while and I have learnt to handle it. I do realise now that I have to brush up on my public relations skills.
Not having great PR or being media savvy might have even harmed my career.” But talk about his directorial debut ‘U, Me Aur Hum’ and he is back to his confident self. “I am not trying to prove a point to anybody. I also know I am not making a classic. I am making a commercial film and I know people will like it.”
s_shubha@dnaindia.net
