(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) We caught up with Ajay Devgan who was in town to promote his latest flick Action Jackson opening this weekend.
Sonakshi Sinha and Prabhu Deva have worked together in movies such as Rowdy Rathore and R…Rajkumar; Ajay Devgan joins the party this time with Action Jackson.
The actor who completed 23 years in the industry this year is popularly known as an action hero but when you are doing a film directed by Prabhu Deva that’s not enough. The actor has put on his dancing shoes an area in which he is clearly not comfortable but told us he enjoyed shaking a leg under the guidance of choreographer and director Prabhu.
“Initially I was a bit uncomfortable but he made me very comfortable. He studied my body language and created new things for me in terms of dancing which I enjoyed doing.”
Sonakshi and Prabhu were supposed to join him during the Dubai press junket on Sunday but Sonakshi fell ill at the last minute and Prabhu was busy with the post production of the film so the responsibility of doing all the talking fell to the man of few words.
“Sonakshi keeps talking all the time and she is happy that she gets to talk. She is one who talks and I keep quiet and just smile.”
We wonder what kind of satisfaction a two times National Award-winning actor (Zakhm; 1998 and The Legend Of Bhagat Singh; 2002) finds in doing movies like Himmatwaala Bol Bachchan and Son of Sardar. He justified his reason for doing mass-market films by saying he does not receive scripts of great quality anymore.
“I miss doing films like Omkara only for a reason because I keep hearing similar scripts but nothing has been as good as Zakhm or Apharan or Gangajal. These were films when I heard them I felt like I want to start them right away. I need to hear something like that.”
But he continued arguing the fact that his movies are for everyone.
‘Insecurity is there in the actors’
Ajay Devgan talks on forged box office figures.
“Box office figures were forged. Singham did 32.5 crore during day one; we did not lie and gave out the exact figure. The media wrote about us saying “Hats off they did not inflate the figure.” So the media has realised what the right figures are. Even the audience is now reacting. The last couple of films they have turned around and told me “What figure When we went to the theatre it was empty so the figures are forged. The audience understand the box office.
“This insecurity is there in the actors but I believe even the media must be more responsible in putting out figures and not [be too quick to judge actors by] giving them number one and two status.”
“I think Singham was both [a] mass and class film. Even Action Jackson is in the same category. When you see the styling of the film that looks massy but the love story is meant for the classes. This is not over-the-top comedy but there is a lot of humour in the film which is actually for the classes because the timing is such that only they will understand. It is not just perverse comedy it is about situational comedy which Prabhu is very good at. Prabhu is a fabulous actor and great director he is very quirky and very stylised so when we started this film I told him to make it very urban and he has done a fabulous job.”
The actor married Bollywood’s sweetheart Kajol in 1999 and the couple have two children. Kajol and Ajay are two different people in terms of personality but they share the same core values. The actor said candidly: “I just want to spend maximum time with my kids and family which I am not able to because I am constantly working. In the past couple of months I am working till 8-9 pm in the office. All I do is finish my work and go home to my family.”
The actor is currently concentrating on his pet project.
“Right now I am only concentrating on the film that I am directing called Shivay. It is an emotional drama but action-based and action with a reason not just for entertainment. I will star in the film which is my home production. We will begin shooting in February next year. This project takes my maximum time these days. Apart from this there are all kinds of films my production house is working on; slice of life kind of movies commercial films.”
He also told us that right now Kajol is concentrating on the project that she is doing and if they come across a right script the real life couple might share the screen space once again.
He may also come together with his best friend director Rohit Shetty. Together they have created one of the most successful partnerships in Bollywood with movies like Bol Bachchan and the Golmaal and Singham series all doing well at the box office surpassing the magic 100 crore mark however Ajay revealed that he’s yet to see Rohit’s Chennai Express starring Shah Rukh Khan.
artikhaleejtimes.com