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FILM INTERVIEW: RITEISH DESHMUKH

Star of ‘Double Dhamaal’ Says Very Little Romance in Film, Wants to do Marathi Cinema

By: Simran Mody
June 22, 2011

Double Dhamaal on buzzinebollywood.comBollywood leading man Riteish Deshmukh, who has his eyes on Marathi cinema, warns Hindi film fans to not expect much romance in Indra Kumar’s upcoming comedy, Double Dhamaal. While the Reliance Pictures release does star Mallika Sherawat and Kangna Ranaut, the testosterone levels of Double Dhamaal are pretty high, what with Mr. Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffrey, Ashish Choudhry, and Sanjay Dutt headlining the cast.

 
“None of us have any romantic angle with any of these two great looking females. The boys are together, and we are happy to be in love with each other,” Mr. Deshmukh said to the media, adding that the film’s plot focuses less on love stories and more on deviant schemes of the various characters to get their hands on a rather rich treasure.
 
“Double Dhamaal shows that Sanjay gets rich and is enjoying all the luxuries in his life. Kangna and Mallika are with him, and it is basically their trio versus our quartet that takes each other head-on in this sequel,” the actor added.
 
With the plot of Dhamaal chronicling a quartet of common folks stumbling upon a Rs.10 crore fortune before donating it to charity, Double Dhamaal shines a new light on the money caper, with Mr. Dutt’s character the central figure of the new twist on a four-year-old tale.
 
Mr. Deshmukh says this new twist makes for quite the thrilling storytelling experience, ergo making it less important to have a formulaic love story.
 
“All four of us are pretty much in sync with each other. We all have started thinking alike. I don’t think now we would look like four actors just doing our job,” Mr. Deshmukh told the Indian press. “We behave pretty much alike and are more like one actor in four different bodies.”
 
To that end, Mr. Deshmukh thinks Double Dhamaal will be bigger and better than the first.
 
“The film is looking much bigger and better. Induji (Indra Kumar) has ensured that we take forward the ‘dhamaal’ element in a big way,” he said. “Whether in terms of scale, sets, music, jokes, or the overall glamour quotient, everything has been worked upon all over again. We aren’t merely relying upon the fact that we have a successful franchise in hand. Also, with Kangna and Mallika joining us, the glamour quotient has been taken care of as well.”
 
While Bollywood may have all the glamour and beauty, Mr. Deshmukh, interestingly enough, has quite the attraction to one of India’s other film industries, Marathi cinema.
 
Considered the oldest film industry in India -- after all, it did give us Raja Harishchandra, the country’s first-ever film -- Marathi cinema has been gaining in popularity of late. Mr. Deshmukh hopes to capitalize on that rise in popularity.
 
Just as much, he is baffled how Marathi cinema is not the predominate film industry of its home state Maharashtra. Granted, Maharashtra is also home to Bollywood, yet other Indian states are strongly tied to their linguistically themed productions.
 
“In Andhra Pradesh, the first choice is Telugu; in Tamil Nadu, it is Tamil movies; in Kerala, it is Malayalam; in Karnataka, it is Kannada; but in Maharashtra, it is Hindi,” Mr. Deshmukh observed to the press. “Marathi, I think, language-wise, is much more potent than Hindi. The stories are always great, and it’s more credible.
 
"Double Dahmaal" on buzzinebollywood.com"Marathi is the culture of the land. I think every land has its culture and it should be retained. To give importance to that, I strongly believe multiplexes throughout Maharashtra should at least have two prime-time shows for Marathi films so people of that area can go and watch them,” he added.
 
Putting his money where his mouth is, Mr. Deshmukh already put the wheels of change in motion, launching his own production company and immediately setting his eyes on a Marathi production.
 
“My production company would be called Mumbai Film Company, which would mainly produce Marathi films along with Hindi ones. My debut production would be a Marathi film,” he confessed to the press. “I am thinking that I would act in the Marathi film I produce. I am too busy this year, so I have kept it for next year.”
 
While he plots the execution of his ambitious plans in the Marathi cinema space, Mr. Deshmukh hopes Hindi film fans will be scheming to hit movie theaters and multiplexes this weekend amidst IIFA 2011 to watch Double Dhamaal, which opens on June 24th.