After delivering a couple of box-office duds last year, this year Ajay Devgan emerged a winner, with two consecutive hits, Golmaal and Omkara. “I am glad that people appreciated me in Golmaal, which was a completely light-hearted comedy and then in Omkara which is a dark romantic love story. It feels nice to strike a balance where the sensible audience and the masses appreciate your effort,” says Ajay, taking a break from the shooting of Raj Kumar Santoshi’s forthcoming venture, Hulla Bol, at Filmcity in Goregaon.


Yet Omkara was criticised for the heavy use of cuss words. “I think only a few people had a problem with the language. If you visit the places we showed in the film, you’ll find people using such words. And when we are talking about making an authentic film, we can’t have the characters talking in chaste Hindi. That would be using double standards. Secondly, it was an ‘adults only’ film,” he says.


Apparently producer Kumar Mangat and director Vishal Bharadwaj were unhappy with some people lobbying against Omkara, which resulted in the film flopping. Does Ajay have any ill-wishers in the industry? “I think there is a lobby against everything in Bollywood, so I don’t want to name Omkara as the only film being targeted,” replies Ajay.


“There’s an anti-lobby working against every big film. Every actor, director and producer is facing this problem. Now, I’ve been told that Lage Raho Munnabhai is a fantastic film, but someone came and told me that the collection of the film is not so good. What are we to make of contradictory statements?” he says.


Although Ajay played the central character in Omkara, it was Saif Ali Khan who took the maximum accolades. Does this bother him? “Saif had a fantastic role and people liked him as Langda Tyagi because he was playing such a character for the first time. I must admit that Saif has done a brilliant job, so he’s bound to get the accolades,” says Ajay.


Ajay Devgan is playing the role of a film actor in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Hulla Bol, with Vidya Balan. So, will he be giving inputs for the script, considering he is an actor himself. “I am excited about the fact that I am playing a film star in the film. I am picking up references from lots of other actors I have worked with, even things that we don’t admit to happening in this industry, is there in this film,” he says.


Incidentally, Ajay loved the script of the film so much that he hugged Santoshi after reading the script. “That was an emotional gesture. I have worked with him in many films, but I think Hulla Bol is a complete departure from what he has been doing in the past,” says Ajay.


And how is the much-hyped projects, Prithviraj Samyukta, starring Aishwarya Rai, coming along? “As far as Prithiviraj Samyukta is concerned, I think somebody else is also making the film on same subject. I don’t think that it makes any sense in spending so much money on a project which is also being made by some other director,” he explains. Incidentally, Raj Kumar Santoshi has approached Ajay Devgan to play the role of Lord Ram in his Ramayan. “Nothing has been finalised yet, he is still working on the character of Ram,” he says.


Ajay Devgan is all set to don the role of Veeru from Sholay in Ram Gopal Varma’s Sholay. But Ramu has been criticised for re-making a landmark film like Sholay. “I also felt the same. I also asked myself, ‘Why is Ramu making Sholay?’ But after he narrated the story to me, I agreed to be part of his Sholay. It has got everything that Sholay had, but it’s completely urban. Once the film is complete, people will understand why Ramu wanted to remake Sholay,” says Ajay.





http://ajay-devgan.com