Ajay Devgn Interview: Films don’t do well if they don’t come up to the mark of the audience!

After a huge gap of almost seven years, superstar Ajay Devgn returns to his most popular film franchise Golmaal with its newest addition, Golmaal Again . The actor has appeared in many successful comic-capers before, like Ishq , Masti , Sunday , All The Best , Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge , Bol Bachchan and Son Of Sardaar , but the Golmaal film series has garnered arguably the strongest audience response so far. With the release of the fourth instalment of the franchise round the corner, Devgn is confident about its performance. Recently, BollywoodMDB correspondent, Mohnish Singh, catches up with Ajay to talk more about the film. In this interview, the superstar talks in detail about Golmaal Again , its clash with Aamir Khan ’s Secret Superstar and why marketing and promotions have nothing to do with the failure or success of a film at the ticket window.

Q. You are known to play larger-than-life characters, but in the Golmaal film series, you play a very light, humorous character where your co-actors crack jokes on you. How do you feel portraying such roles?

A. Doing such kind of roles has its own fun. I love playing such roles. In fact, I would say I love playing all types of roles that come my way. I think every actor should try doing different kinds of roles because that is what makes you larger-than-life. So, I like playing characters like this where you are making fun of yourself. People are making fun of you.

Q. What brings you back to Golmaal Again?

A. It’s a very big film franchise. People really enjoy it. I think why the fourth part of the series has been made because the audience has loved the previous films. Golmaal is the biggest brand in the country when it comes to entertaining people through the medium of cinema. That is our job. We like entertaining people. We worked out a good script and so we made Golmaal Again.

Q. Golmaal Again is coming after seven years of Golmaal 3. So, how was it to come together again and meet your co-stars?

A. It felt like we had done Golmaal 3 yesterday and now we were shooting again for its next part. The moment we arrived on the sets, we started cracking jokes, pulling one another’s legs and all. Tabu and Parineeti were the newest additions to the franchise. My friendship with Tabu goes long back, so we didn’t take much time in getting comfortable with each other. Parineeti too didn’t take much time to gel with us.

Honestly speaking, the Golmaal film franchise is always like a picnic destination for us who are regular in the series. We don’t even realize when the film comes to an end. So, yeah, we all had a lot of fun while shooting the movie.

Q. How was it to work with Tabu again?

A. My friendship with Tabu is not the kind of friendship we actors share with our co-stars; our friendship goes back to the time when we were in college and had not entered the film industry. My friendship with her is exactly like the same as it has to be with your closest friend where you can hurl insults at each other and still be the best friends.

Q. Does your son Yug like the series?

A. Yes, he keeps watching it repeatedly on television. Golmaal is a film series which keeps coming every weekend on television. Yug is now waiting to see Golmaal Again.

Q. Many big-budgeted films, featuring the biggest stars, haven’t done well this year at the box office. So, has Golmaal Again team planned to do something different in terms of marketing and promotions?

A. Marketing is never the reason if a film does not do well. Films don’t do well if they don’t come up to the mark of the audience. So, that has got nothing to do with marketing. Marketing, basically, is a reminder to the audience that a certain film is coming. The makers release the promo, and then they show more content of the film, be it songs or mini trailers and whatever. Based on that content, the audience decides whether they want to see the film or not. What we can only do is to get out and promote the film is a sense which reminds the audience that this film is coming. After watching the trailer and songs, the audience has already decided whether they want to go or they do want to go. You can remind them as much as you want. If they want to see your film, then reminders work. If they don’t want to see the film, they will probably not work.

Q. In one of his recent interviews, Aamir Khan said that if two films clash with each other at the box office, it is the content which decides which film will win the race. What do you have to comment considering your film Golmaal Again is clashing with Aamir’s Secret Superstar?

A. I don’t see a clash between Golmaal Again and Secret Superstar because both films belong to two very different genres. Secret Superstar has a very different target audience. That audience will go to watch that film first and then watch our film also because Diwali is a period where people want entertainment and some select audience wants niche cinema also. I feel both films will work at the box office.

Q. The tagline of Golmaal Again says, ‘No Logic, Only Magic. How much you believe in that?

A. I guess you didn’t get the title completely. The tagline doesn’t mean that you come and watch a film without any logic. This tagline goes well with the storyline of the film. That is why we have used this. As you all know that Golmaal Again is a horror comedy, which means there will be a ghost in the film. But if you go by logic, ghosts don’t exist. So, we have used the tagline keeping that in mind. It is not a senseless comedy film.

Q. Do you believe in logic in cinema?

A. See, there is no logic in cinema. Having said that, I feel there should not be senselessness in it. The bottom line is to deliver entertainment. But that does not mean that you can show just anything.

Q. You also own a production house along with acting in films of different movie banners. How do you strike a balance between the two? Is it difficult to do both the things at the same time?

A. No. It does take a little more time, but luckily, I have a very good team at my production house, so I don’t have to deal with things on the daily basis.

Q. How is your upcoming film Raid shaping up?

A. We have completed 50% of the film. I have taken a break to promote Golmaal Again. I will resume shooting after its release. We will shoot the whole film by the end of November.