Vishal Veeru Devgan, professionally known as Ajay Devgn, has spent three decades in the industry—he debuted with Phool Aur Kaante in 1991. During this time, he has had his fair share of hits and flops, and at 52 he is still raring to go. "Age does not ebb your enthusiasm."
In fact, you start loving your craft more,” says the actor who is recently out with his war film Bhuj, and believes that “the day you stop working, you will fade out”. In Bhuj, Devgn plays IAF Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik, the then in-charge of the Bhuj airport during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971. After waiting for over a year for a theatrical release, the makers finally released the film on Disney+Hotstar just ahead of Independence Day.
The film, says Devgn, has got “great feedback” from the Army and the Air Force. “We have tried to be honest to the characters. We knew the story and Vijay Karnik was on board. We took approvals from him. The pressure was to make sure that there is no negative portrayal, besides maintaining the dignity in the performances, scenes and story,” he says, adding that while the real story was kept in mind, creative liberties were also taken. “A simple and necessary thing like background music is creative liberty, but we can’t make a film without it as the impact would be lost. Also, we have to dramatise certain scenes. Of course, one shouldn’t go overboard. We wanted to make sure that the Air Force, once they see the film, shouldn’t feel that it is ‘jingoistic’. VFX has a lot to do with this film,” he says.
Devgn, who has acted in over 100 films, rues the inability of releasing the larger-than-life film in theatres, but maintains, “Safety comes first. The situation is not conducive to opening theatres right now. I think OTT platforms are good for the industry.” Devgn believes that even after theatres reopen; it will be a good thing to have simultaneous OTT support for filmmakers. “We work hard to make a film and we want the film to release in theatres. But there are only so many theatres and the number of films outweighs them. With OTTs in the game, there will be a perfect balancing act,” he says.
Devgn is now completely concentrating on making films with “unsung heroes”. In fact, his last film Tanhaji in early 2020, which garnered a good box office run just before the theatres shut down due to the pandemic, was also about an unsung Maratha warrior hero. Why this obsession? “I want the future generation to know about our unsung heroes. Our history has long been suppressed. Our heroes were not spoken of because the English ruled us and they didn’t want people to revolt. Tanhaji has no place in our textbooks. He fought selflessly for the nation. Even during Bhuj I met many families who have lost their sons and husbands in the war. I want to talk about them,” he says.
The actor’s next directorial venture—Mayday—is not a war film, at all. It is about a commercial pilot and he directs Amitabh Bachchan in it. How is the experience directing the legend? “Anybody would love to work with him. It was a dream come true. He’s like a child on the sets,” says the actor-filmmaker clearly awestruck. He is also making his debut as an actor on OTT. “I am doing Rudra, the web series. It is a completely different act to shoot for a series,” he says. Talking about his forthcoming projects, he has Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi set for release. This is Devgn’s second film with Bhansali, with whom he worked in 1999 for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
So is Indian cinema returning to its ‘golden age’? “If you look at the graph of films you will realise that we have had mature stories in the last five years. There is a lot of depth in the stories being told,” says the actor, adding with a twinkle in his eyes, “Finding stories for senior actors has become easy today.” Well, we sure aren’t complaining.
Did You Know?
✥ The actor can be recognised by his signature scent, Polo Green for Men by Ralph Lauren. He has been wearing the same cologne for the last three decades.
✥ A fantastic cook who can whip up almost any dish, he ironically hates the smell of onions and food on his fingertips
✥ Fear of Going Out (FOGO) is his biggest bane
“If you look at the graph of films you will realise that we have had mature stories in the last five years. There is a lot of depth in the stories being told.”