Was attracted to film direction for years but didn’t have courage to do it: Riteish Deshmukh

Directing films was on his wish l for quite some time, says Riteish Deshmukh, who is happy about going behind the camera for the first time with the upcoming Marathi movie Ved.
The actor, known for the Housefull series, Ek Villain and Marjaavaan, ventured into Marathi cinema as a producer with 2013’s Balak Palak and followed it up with Yellow. “This (direction) is something I was attracted to for many years but didn’t have the courage to do it because I was acting. In the last three-four years I was trying to figure out…
“Even the film that I have directed ‘Ved’ is something that worked out itself for me,” Deshmukh, who has also starred in Marathi films Lai Bhaari and Mauli, told PTI.
With Maharashtra also being home to Bollywood, Riteish Deshmukh said Marathi films face stiff competition from Hindi cinema.
“It is tough for Marathi cinema to survive with Hindi cinema in the same state when the first preference is to watch Hindi over Marathi cinema. When Marathi movies become a second choice, their theatre share invariably goes down,” added Deshmukh.

Citing examples of hit Marathi films such as Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat and Natsamrat Mahesh Manjrekar, the 43-year-old actor said the state needs at least two such movies every year to lure masses to theatres.
“The idea is how can we go from third to second option to being an equal option. We have to figure out how to attract (audiences). Maharashtra has 12 crore population, I believe 9-10 crore will be Marathi-speaking audience.
“We are able to tap into that substantial base with very few films. Like, Sairat did brilliantly. Lai Bhaari, Natsamrat, these films reached the maximum audience. But we need more such films, we need two films every year,” he said.

Recently, Deshmukh made his digital debut with Plan A Plan B, co-starring Tamannaah Bhatia. Directed Shashanka Ghosh of Veere Di Wedding fame and written Rajat Arora, the romantic comedy premiered on Netflix last month.
The actor said he was interested in exploring the digital medium and his dream was fulfilled with Plan A Plan B, which follows the quirky romance between a match-maker (Bhatia) and a divorce attorney (Deshmukh).
“It was a time when pandemic had hit, OTT was something that I was looking forward to. But nothing had materialised.
“Every other day I am offered a UP gangster (role). When this film came, I was like ‘They are doing a rom-com, let’s do it’. I got the opportunity to do a rom-com after 10 years. Besides, it is a light-hearted watch,” he added.
Veteran actor Poonam Dhillon and popular influencer Kusha Kapila also round out the cast of Plan A Plan B.