Interview: Riteish Deshmukh
By: Vishal Patel
An opportunity to kiss one of the most beautiful women to hail from Sri Lanka was lost upon Riteish Deshmukh…and he is okay with that.
Following in the footsteps of one of Bollywood’s greatest modern-day actors, Deshmukh has carried around his no-kiss clause to every set he steps foot on, and Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai was no exception.
While most men would settle even for the thought of planting their lips on former Miss Sri Lanka Jacqueline Fernandez, Deshmukh integrally stayed true to his self-imposed rule of avoiding any sort of oral contact with his co-stars.
“It’s true that I don’t like kissing in films. I have been asked to kiss in many of my films, but I have always refused,” the actor sheepishly informed the press, adding he is just too self-conscious about any form of oral contact in front of the camera to do any justice to a given kissing scene. “I am a very shy person, and kissing is too intimate and personal an act for me to do in front of millions of eyes. I am not comfortable doing it. I can’t be detached while kissing someone on screen.”
One source from the set of Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai told reporters Deshmukh was so strongly against kissing Fernandez during the filming of the movie, one of its symbolic climax scenes had to be altered in order to accommodate the actor’s practice of not kissing his co-stars.
“Riteish has always adopted a no-kiss policy for all his films,” the source revealed to the press. “He refused to kiss Jacqueline even for a crucial scene. Director Milap Zaveri is one of Riteish’s closest friends and was beseeching him to kiss Jackie, but Riteish remained adamant. It was the climax scene when Riteish and Jackie realize their love for each other. The kiss was symbolic of taking their relationship further.”
Despite the reported pleas by Zavari, Deshmukh held his ground and the climactic love scene was indeed altered.
“The whole unit — except Milap — knew I wouldn’t kiss Jackie,” Deshmukh pleaded with reporters. “He didn’t give up but tried to convince me for nearly 40 minutes. I didn’t kiss, and finally we ended up shooting a cuter scene which expresses our romance much more than a kiss would have.”
Still, Deshmukh is not morally opposed to kissing scenes; instead, he is just insecure about being personally involved when such moments arise in any production.
“When Milap told me about kissing Jackie during the climax, I told him that I won’t kiss and would rather avoid it completely,” he candidly told the press. “I am not a prude. I’d cringe to see myself kissing on screen, but if others do it, I’m fine.”
Hopefully audiences will be fine with just a few cute teases between him and the stunningly gorgeous Fernandez in Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai, which opened on April 9th and is now playing worldwide.
