Lines between mainstream and independent movies have blurred: Ajay Devgn

Mumbai: Ajay Devgn said his experience of working with different directors on both commercial and independent films was useful while directing his upcoming feature ‘Bholaa’.

The actor-filmmaker is returning to directing with the action-thriller ‘Bholaa’ after last year’s ‘Runway 34’. He previously helmed and acted in the films ‘U, Me aur Hum’ (2008) and ‘Shivaay’ (2016).

Devgn said it is difficult to name one director who could be his idol, but his collaborations with celebrated filmmakers Govind Nihalani, Mahesh Bhatt, Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, Prakash Jha and Rohit Shetty have contributed to his growth behind the camera.

“When I started my career, a mainstream actor had never worked in what was called art cinema then. One film Tabu and I worked on together was ‘Thakshak’ with Govind Nihalani. Then I worked with makers like Bhatt sahab, Ram Gopal Varma, Prakash ji, Rituparno Ghosh and Mani Ratnam. I have learnt a lot from commercial films and also learnt how to keep honesty and reality intact from art films. I have learnt from every director,” Devgn said.

The 53-year-old star believes that today, the lines between mainstream and independent movies have blurred and with ‘Bholaa’, he has attempted to merge these two streams of cinema.

“The audience wants to see reliability and reality put into a big-scale film. So, bringing these two elements together has been a big learning experience,” he added.

As a director, Devgn said his focus is always on storytelling.

“I wanted to focus on the whole film as a project, every aspect of the film. There wasn’t just one thing that I wanted to harp on. Filmmaking is about storytelling, so I wanted to concentrate on the storytelling and then everything else would fall into place,” he said.

‘Bholaa’ is the Hindi remake of the Tamil hit ‘Kaithi’, written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. It featured Karthi in the lead role. The story revolves around a recently released prisoner who is on his way to meet his daughter but gets caught up in a dangerous face-off between the police and the drug mafia.