Ajay Devgn says it's only the older stars like him and Salman who can pull off the action hero's role
Singham' is being compared to 'Dabangg' in some ways – the larger than life cop, the earthiness, the absence of foreign locales, 'old cinema' of sorts. Is the single screen driving the business again?
See, if you look back, in the past three-four years, whenever an entertaining movie has been made, the gap between the multiplex and the single screen has diminished. Agar aapne sensibly single screen ko target kar liya toh multiplex bhi aa jaata hai.
But the gap has closed from one side, isn't it? A 'Dabangg' may do well even in a multiplex, but the new-age cinema won't pack the crowds in a small city. Stars who can pull in the single-screens are also sometimes a multiplex hit, but multiplex stars can't do the reverse, can they?
Yes, the gap has closed from one side only, so far. Of course, the multiplex movies also can do good business, and they work, so long as they have been made within the budgets that they can recover from that audience.
Is there a certain 'type' of actor who is suited to this genre of action movies?
Everybody does not suit the uniform. The actor has to be able to make the uniform look good. If someone else had to do this film, it would be one of those of us who have been around for 20 years – there's Salman, or perhaps Akshay could pull it off. The point is, the man on screen should look like he can fight off 15 guys. I am not talking about performance or skill alone. My point is that aaj ki generation mein, there are boys, where are the men? Where is the action hero? Who will become the action hero tomorrow? There doesn't seem to be anyone like that today among the younger heroes, das-baarah saal baad kar paye toh alag baat hai. 'Men' films are working – the 'boy' films are also working, but not as much as the 'men' films. Take "Dabangg", "Ready", any of the top grossers. I really liked "Dabangg" because of the energy that Salman brought into the film. He was so watchable.
The metrosexual hero isn't working?
No, I am not saying that – but he is working primarily for the multiplex audience. If you want to cross-connect, then that isn't happening just now. Sometimes we are making movies for western sensibilities. People everywhere can't afford the ticket rates that a Saket theatre may charge – but you can't run a film for 25 weeks just in South Delhi, can you? And there are Hollywood movies screening in India, in English as well as in dubbed versions – how do you compete with them by making Hollwood-ish films? The movies that do really well pan-India are the ones with characters people easily relate to, identify with.
You'd said in an earlier interview that either you're a star trying to make your way to the top, and people trying to keep you down, or you're on the top, and even if you slip, people desperately try to keep you on that pedestal. Where do you see yourself?
I'd like to believe that I'm climbing up; I wouldn't want to be on the other side. You work hard to keep climbing. And then when you have a certain type of people around you, you realize I must be going down.
So, as long as there's some hostility, you're climbing, and when there's sycophancy, it's a downhill track?
Yeah, yeah (laughs).
Between being an Oscar-winning actor and a mass-success star, which would Ajay Devgn opt to be, given a choice?
I think a mass-success star, definitely. An Oscar is a judgment of five people, of 10 people. Mass stardom is the judgment of millions of people who have decided to put you there. What would you choose?
When you step out for promos, the crowd response is an accurate indicator of how the film is creating a buzz, or not?
Yes, you get a fair idea. Apart from that, what you don't want to hear is people asking you when you are moving around in the period when your film's releasing and people come up to you and ask you sweetly, 'aapki kaun si film aa rahi hai next?' That means you're... you don't want to hear that! But when it's like, if my car stops at a signal, someone sees me and so often there will be shouts of "Singham!" That means there's awareness. That makes you feel better.
You had two New Year resolutions – spending more time with kids, quitting smoking.
One I have managed, the first, the second one, I don't know... I want to quit.
Despite the cigarette, this is the fittest you've been in your life?
For "Singham"? Yes. During "Omkara" also I was quite fit, but this is sized up and lean. Looks good. And you know, when you are 42 and asked when have you been the fittest, and you say 'at 42', it feels very good. When you're younger, your body can take anything. When you're fitter than that now, you've sort of taken age back by a decade.
But mentally, you're wiser?
I have grown up in things like, I don't react unnecessarily. My temper is rationalized. I will only get angry and fight with someone I have to spend my whole life with. I will not waste my time on somebody who is misbehaving with me, and tomorrow, I will go home and he will go home. So I don't waste my time – I just cut that person out of my life completely. That's a better way to do it. Why try to correct somebody you're not going to spend time with anyway?
So you don't try to get even?
I don't try to get even, no. I just cut myself off and I think that is my way of getting even. Their loss.
Singham' is being compared to 'Dabangg' in some ways – the larger than life cop, the earthiness, the absence of foreign locales, 'old cinema' of sorts. Is the single screen driving the business again?
See, if you look back, in the past three-four years, whenever an entertaining movie has been made, the gap between the multiplex and the single screen has diminished. Agar aapne sensibly single screen ko target kar liya toh multiplex bhi aa jaata hai.
But the gap has closed from one side, isn't it? A 'Dabangg' may do well even in a multiplex, but the new-age cinema won't pack the crowds in a small city. Stars who can pull in the single-screens are also sometimes a multiplex hit, but multiplex stars can't do the reverse, can they?
Yes, the gap has closed from one side only, so far. Of course, the multiplex movies also can do good business, and they work, so long as they have been made within the budgets that they can recover from that audience.
Is there a certain 'type' of actor who is suited to this genre of action movies?
Everybody does not suit the uniform. The actor has to be able to make the uniform look good. If someone else had to do this film, it would be one of those of us who have been around for 20 years – there's Salman, or perhaps Akshay could pull it off. The point is, the man on screen should look like he can fight off 15 guys. I am not talking about performance or skill alone. My point is that aaj ki generation mein, there are boys, where are the men? Where is the action hero? Who will become the action hero tomorrow? There doesn't seem to be anyone like that today among the younger heroes, das-baarah saal baad kar paye toh alag baat hai. 'Men' films are working – the 'boy' films are also working, but not as much as the 'men' films. Take "Dabangg", "Ready", any of the top grossers. I really liked "Dabangg" because of the energy that Salman brought into the film. He was so watchable.
The metrosexual hero isn't working?
No, I am not saying that – but he is working primarily for the multiplex audience. If you want to cross-connect, then that isn't happening just now. Sometimes we are making movies for western sensibilities. People everywhere can't afford the ticket rates that a Saket theatre may charge – but you can't run a film for 25 weeks just in South Delhi, can you? And there are Hollywood movies screening in India, in English as well as in dubbed versions – how do you compete with them by making Hollwood-ish films? The movies that do really well pan-India are the ones with characters people easily relate to, identify with.
You'd said in an earlier interview that either you're a star trying to make your way to the top, and people trying to keep you down, or you're on the top, and even if you slip, people desperately try to keep you on that pedestal. Where do you see yourself?
I'd like to believe that I'm climbing up; I wouldn't want to be on the other side. You work hard to keep climbing. And then when you have a certain type of people around you, you realize I must be going down.
So, as long as there's some hostility, you're climbing, and when there's sycophancy, it's a downhill track?
Yeah, yeah (laughs).
Between being an Oscar-winning actor and a mass-success star, which would Ajay Devgn opt to be, given a choice?
I think a mass-success star, definitely. An Oscar is a judgment of five people, of 10 people. Mass stardom is the judgment of millions of people who have decided to put you there. What would you choose?
When you step out for promos, the crowd response is an accurate indicator of how the film is creating a buzz, or not?
Yes, you get a fair idea. Apart from that, what you don't want to hear is people asking you when you are moving around in the period when your film's releasing and people come up to you and ask you sweetly, 'aapki kaun si film aa rahi hai next?' That means you're... you don't want to hear that! But when it's like, if my car stops at a signal, someone sees me and so often there will be shouts of "Singham!" That means there's awareness. That makes you feel better.
You had two New Year resolutions – spending more time with kids, quitting smoking.
One I have managed, the first, the second one, I don't know... I want to quit.
Despite the cigarette, this is the fittest you've been in your life?
For "Singham"? Yes. During "Omkara" also I was quite fit, but this is sized up and lean. Looks good. And you know, when you are 42 and asked when have you been the fittest, and you say 'at 42', it feels very good. When you're younger, your body can take anything. When you're fitter than that now, you've sort of taken age back by a decade.
But mentally, you're wiser?
I have grown up in things like, I don't react unnecessarily. My temper is rationalized. I will only get angry and fight with someone I have to spend my whole life with. I will not waste my time on somebody who is misbehaving with me, and tomorrow, I will go home and he will go home. So I don't waste my time – I just cut that person out of my life completely. That's a better way to do it. Why try to correct somebody you're not going to spend time with anyway?
So you don't try to get even?
I don't try to get even, no. I just cut myself off and I think that is my way of getting even. Their loss.
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