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New challenges, new roles
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Ajay Devgan shares his experience about working with a child and also acting like one in Main Aisa Hi Hoon
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THE CHILD IN hiM Ajay Devgan plays a special role in Main Aisa Hi Hoon
History has proved that in Bollywood, when you portray a character whose mental age doesn't match his physical age, it goes down well with the audience, irrespective of the age group. And it is so because whatever the age of the audience, they identify with such films. We have Sadma, Eeshwar and Koi Mil Gaya are examples in which Sridevi, Anil Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan, respectively, brought out the child to such perfection. Going by such precedents, Harry Baweja's latest dish-out, Main Aisa Hi Hoon, is likely to strike a chord with many and never mind it's inspired by Sean Penn's I Am Sam.
Mood swings
Ajay Devgan portrays a man with the mental age of a seven-year-old, who is also a father to a seven-year-old daughter played by child actor Rucha. For Ajay, acting with children is difficult, not only because of the their "mood swings" but also because it is "challenging." Remember, he has worked with children in Tera Mera Sath Rahe and his own production Raju Chacha, and thus knows they are quite capable of stealing a scene from their adult counterparts.
Admits Ajay: "It is not actually easy to work with children. After all they are kids and have many mood swings. They will not willingly come for a shot and have to be pampered endlessly. But at the same time they are very honest. They don't plan, plot or manipulate. Whatever they feel, they do. That is how they steal the show. I was lucky to have a child like Rucha in the film who was very natural in her approach. While she was behaving naturally, I had to act her age."
And he feebly confesses, that in the climax, where he gets separated from his daughter, Rucha's acting indeed "moved him". "It is the scene where the daughter runs away from the hostel at night to meet her father," says Pammi Baweja, producer of the film. "She cries intensely on meeting him. Rucha was the more mature of the two in it." And for Ajay, this scene is important also because he himself is a father of a four-year-old girl. "Yes. It makes a lot of difference. You can feel the pain," he adds.
Complete unlearning
He met several mentally challenged kids, observed them from close quarters. And tried to absorb it in his acting. He also had to be cautious not to go overboard.
"I had to be conscious all the time, because my reactions had be abnormal. I have never done that kind of a role earlier. So, in a sense, it was complete unlearning," he says. Though Ajay denies he had any hangover of the role shots, it did creep in unconsciously.
"One day on the sets, Ajay was going to the bathroom walking like a seven-year-old. Suddenly he realised it was not a shot," recalls Pammi.
Following Main... Ajay has three films in his kitty. Prakash Jha's Apharan, Raj Kumar Santoshi's Samna and another untitled film by John Mathew.
RANA SIDDIQUI
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