Filmmaker Rohit Shetty, has made larger than life films with lots of drama, action and comedy, says he was not sure of moving away from his signature brand of cinema. His next is Simmba in which the effervescent Ranveer Singh plays a policeman and is paired with Sara Ali Khan.
Known for mega films like the Golmaal and Singham series, Bol Bachchan, Dilwale and Chennai Express, Rohit Shetty was asked if he will be able to ever make a small budget film.
He told reporters: “Honestly, I am scared of doing that. If there is a small film with a good story, I will produce it. But I won’t direct a small film. See, cinema is larger than life for me and people know my cinema for that. For my audience, watching a ‘Rohit Shetty film’ is like a festival on-screen. I cannot cheat on my loyal audience.”
“I drive an expensive car and live a luxurious life and that has come from the love, support of common people. A middle-class man who is playing 10 per cent of his hard-earned money to watch my film, is making me a rich person. So just to prove a point for my creative satisfaction, I cannot cheat on my audience,” he added.
For Simmba, he has a talented star like Ranveer. Rohit is he planning to present Ranveer to the audience differently, Shetty said: “We have worked together in an ad film and that is when we started planning to collaborate for a film. But I couldn’t have imagined making ‘Simmba’ if not for Ranveer Singh, because he is the only actor who has the strength to pull out such a character.
“This is the first time we will see Ranveer playing a policeman in an action film. There are certain colourful elements in the character of Simmba that Ranveer also has. So I really had to change my writing if Ranveer would have said ‘no’ to my film.”
“There is a lot of energy in the character, so as in him,” added the commercially successful director, whose Singham film franchise has been taken forward for a TV format.
His banner Rohit Shetty Picturez in collaboration with Reliance Animation has launched a new kids show Little Singham on Discovery Kids. The film will go on air from April 21.
Rohit Shetty said he never imagined the movie will become so huge not only at the box office but also among children.
“I remember there was four months off after the shooting of Golmaal 3 and Bol Bachchan. I just wanted to do a small budget action film with Ajay Devgn, so I told him. He said ‘Yes, let’s do this’. But never had I ever imagined that Singham would become such a kids’ favourite character.”
“Since my comedy films were doing well at the box office, many people thought I have gone mad to do an action film. It was a risk. In fact, I remember I told my team that ‘Look, if this film fails, we have Bol Bachchan and Chennai Express to fall back, so let me just do it. Then it became a mass hit.”
The animated version of Little Singham will have short stories in each episode. It is very different from the original script of the film.
Stating that, he said: “Here we are targeting audience between 5 to 11 years old. So the subject of stories will be of their age group but here Singham is a policeman with all the good habits of the character that he had in the film. He is helpful, active, honest… It is pure children’s entertainment,” Shetty said.
Photo courtesy: www.indianexpress.com
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