Friday Review
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A comic relief
RANA SIDDIQUI
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Ajay Devgan on his comedy Sunday, releasing today
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Photo: ANU PUSHKARNA
RELAXED Ajay Devgan says the audience’s faith in him has given him enough confidence.
Most journalists knew Ajay Devgan as a man of few words till a few years ago. He used to come across as a very shy guy, having no ‘funkiness’ to boast off, except a half-tucked, transparent, trendy shirt with a chain peeping through it. With a cigarette in hand and eyes lowered, he would barely look into the interviewers’ eyes and answer their queries in monosyllables, politely though. A picture of dignity, Ajay would barely lose his cool except when he had to answer the same question again and again to different channels for that “exclusive” shot.
And here is a new Ajay, no longer a man of few words. He seems to be in a hurry, , but he answers them nonetheless. A good speaker is a journalist’s delight and so is an honest and forthright one. One who calls spade a spade. In Ajay, these traits are showing prominently, and is therefore a journalist’s delight.
He just proved his worth as a great actor in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s “Halla Bol” in which he matched up to Pankaj Kapoor. “Ours were the only two strong roles in it,” Ajay takes it graciously. Now it’s “Sunday” directed by Rohit Shetty, in which he dons the garb of a cop after three years.
Says Ajay, “This is one of the most interesting comedies I have ever heard off. I would call it a conceptual comedy.” The crux of the story is taken from a hit Telugu movie “Anukokunda Oka Roju” staring Jagapati Babu and Charmi Kaur in the lead.
Admits Ajay: “We have taken only a thought from that film, that is, a Sunday goes missing from a young girl’s life, and that’s turned into a comedy.
This is practically his second comedy film in which he himself is not doing any comic acts. “The fun element in the film is woven into situations. In my role it’s in the part where I dodge the criminal by taking a bribe on the pretext of letting him off but I actually don’t do that. I ‘lighten’ his punishment in lieu of money,” explains Ajay.
These days, Ajay is on a high thanks to the applause he got for “Halla Bol”. Many producers have started looking up to him again. “I choose my role very cautiously now. Earlier I have done quite a few films that didn’t meet the audiences’ approval. Sometimes I regret it, sometimes I don’t. It’s an interesting journey where we all, in the film industry, fight and reconcile again like members of a good family,” says Ajay pointing at Bollywood’s preferential treatment to only rising stars.
And in this journey, he thinks, the entrance of corporate money has made a difference. “But they don’t know filmmaking. If they knew it, they wouldn’t have come to us for finding producers and directors. They only know business. I think they should keep off the script; else they should become directors themselves. I don’t quite agree with the idea that if some corporate house funds your film, it has the right to interfere in your script too,” Ajay asserts.
Ajay must know, for he himself is turning producer-director for his home production “You, Me aur Hum” in which he is starring, opposite Kajol. The mention of the film brings a chuckle to his voice. “I had certain thoughts I wanted to share with people. Various incidents in life have taught me that one cannot live with ‘I’ or ‘you’ for a long time. Unless ‘you’ and ‘me’ become ‘we’, life treats you sorely. This thought is woven in a love story of a couple whose life goes through different stages in time.
Prakash Jha is looking forward to “Rajniti”. “I am very excited about this film by Prakash Jha. It’s about politics between students and local leaders. It would soon go on the floors,” he concludes.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
