Few actors in Bollywood possess the versatility of Riteish Deshmukh. Known for his wide-ranging roles across genres, Deshmukh has carved a unique niche in the Hindi film industry. His upcoming project, “PILL,” directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, is set to stream on JioCinema from July 12. Deshmukh is celebrated for his work in successful franchises such as “Masti,” “Dhamaal,” and “Housefull.”
In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Deshmukh reminisced about working with director Indra Kumar on “Masti” in 2004. Reflecting on the experience, he said, “I remember specifically because I think for the first 2-3 days, I was not getting it. Induji was very patient with me because I was a newcomer, and he thought he’d get it. And then I just tried to imbibe and understand what he was trying to do because I truly believe in the 21 years of my career anhaveng worked on so many comedies, no director cascenees like Indra Kumar. What we do in ‘Dhamaal’ or ‘Masti’ is just 15% of what he shows us. He is that good.”
Discussing the cult classic “Dhamaal” (2007), Deshmukh shared a previously unknown revelation. “I will tell you a trivia that no one knows. This is the first time I’m telling this about ‘Dhamaal’. I was doing a lot of multi-starrers. I had finished ‘Masti’ and Induji offered me ‘Dhamaal’. He came and signed me. I wrote a letter to Induji saying that I don’t want to do the film because I’ve done too many multi-starrers, and please excuse me. And I returned the cheque to him. He said he wanted to meet me again. He came to meet me on my set and he said, ‘I respect this, but you have to do this film.’ And I said, okay. Now let’s do that.”
Deshmukh added, “I’m so grateful that he thought of me for that role and made me part of this franchise, and we are now doing part 4. But, imagine that I didn’t want to do the film, not because I had an issue with it, it’s just that I was just involved in too many multi-starrers. Imagine if I had not done ‘Dhamaal’, I would have regretted it all my life.”
When asked about the qualities of an architect that an actor needs to possess, Deshmukh highlighted the importance of proportion. “Sense of proportion. Because everything in life is about proportion. Beauty lies in its proportions. When you look at a face, the proportion of everything matters, right from my eyes to nose, lips to forehead to everything. And that is what beauty is in everything of you. In your performance, there has to be a certain proportion of what you want to pour in. Your emotion, everything. So everything in life is about proportions and that’s why if you ask me what architecture has taught me, it’s proportions.”
