He raged on to the silver screen 27 years ago, on a roaring hot bike in the action drama, ‘Phool Aur Kaante’. Ever since, his career has not always been a bed of roses, but neither have the thorns left him bruised. Like he says, “Even in my low phase, I have always had one hit in a year”. Ajay Devgn has deftly balanced the art and the mart. For every ‘Zakhm’, there has been a ‘Golmaal’. For every 100-crore-hit, there’s been a critically acclaimed drama to root for. A director’s delight — he could tear the screen with rage or turn into silent dynamite. Off-screen, he’s a man of his own mind. Rare and solid. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, he fires bullets — direct and dauntless. A few days before the release of his upcoming film ‘Raid’ directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, he settles into a comfortable chat (which is a rarity) with us and talks about his lucky streak, how he’s averted a mid-life crisis and the fact that the industry today has better business sense, but lacks the emotional quotient. Read on…
You are playing a tough-as-nails IT officer in ‘Raid’, who is investigating one of the most high-profile and controversial cases that we have seen. While essaying heroic characters in our films, the natural tendency is to go OTT in order to make the character seem more superhuman. Here, you seem to have played it out subtly. It is a challenge, isn’t it?
The film happened because we met this IT officer and realised that there was a great story to be told. We were toying with the idea of making it for four years, finally, the writer Ritesh Shah narrated the story to me and I loved it. Then, we got Raj Kumar Gupta (of ‘No one Killed Jessica’ fame) on board, as he understood the space that this movie is set in. I have never worked with him before, but he is this quiet and honest guy, who talks about nothing other than the film he is working on. Also, I like Ritesh because he writes dialogues that are not filmi or flowery, but hard-hitting. They don’t sound like… yeh kya line likhi hai, and yet, leave an impact. I think that whenever you have a great line, you should deliver it with nonchalance. By that, I mean that a lot of actors believe that if they have a good dialogue, they should stretch it to make it more dramatic. I feel that when you deliver such lines subtly, they work out better. In ‘Raid’, Amay Patnaik is real; he doesn’t become aggressive or resort to violence. He is not a cop, he is an IT officer who is honest and retaliates silently.
Well, OTT also works well for the audience, like in a film like ‘Singham’, where you play a hot-headed cop…
Yes, OTT works very often in our films, but it doesn’t work for every character. It can get irritating, too, so you need to strike a balance. In case of roles that demand a subtle performance, you have to express a lot through your eyes and body language. Sometimes, when people do it, there are chances that it could look like they are sleepwalking. There is a very thin line. Being cool and calm does not mean that you are performing well either.
You have always said that you don’t spend too much time getting into the skin of the character. You simply understand your character and let the cameras start rolling. Have you ever made an exception to that process for any of your roles?
I still can’t do all that prep work. I am just spontaneous, so I either feel the character or I don’t. I don’t know of any other process, or let’s say that I can’t explain it. I can understand it for myself. I start thinking and feeling like the character. My body language and thought process change and I start thinking what the character would do or wouldn’t do. Yes, I do put a lot of thought in to how I would play a character differently. For instance, after Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Company’ (2002) got a lot of appreciation, I had to think about how I would play an underworld don again in Milan Luthria’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’ (2010). The cop in Prakash Jha’s ‘Gangaajal’ (2003) is dramatically different from the cop in Rohit Shetty’s ‘Singham’ (2011), though both the characters have similar beliefs.
When you are doing a film like ‘Golmaal’ vis-à-vis a film like ‘Raid’, as an actor, is the ultimate feeling of creative satisfaction similar?
There is a lot of satisfaction in doing both kinds of films. Doing a comedy is tough business, the energy and timing has to be perfectly tuned. People think that it is easy to be stupid on screen, but it is not. I realised that while working on ‘Golmaal Again’ (2017). On the first day of the shoot we performed a few scenes and we realised that there was something missing. We had shot the last ‘Golmaal’ movie seven years ago. Since then, we had all grown up. Then Rohit (Shetty, director) played a few scenes from ‘Golmaal 3’, and we saw how stupid we were in that film. The energy was on a different level. And while shooting ‘Golmaal Again’, we were trying to be stupid, but there was a little maturity in it. So, we had to take the stupidity a notch higher and when that worked, it was as satisfying as anything else.
What was the turning point for you? Was it Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Zakhm’ (1998), a film where you received immense appreciation? For the longest time, you were asked why you didn’t do more films like that…
I don’t think that there was any turning point in my career, it was all a process. I am glad people have started doing such films now; in the 90s no one attempted these films. What we call niche films today, I was doing those films in the 90s when no other mainstream actor was doing them. I did films like ‘Raincoat’, ‘Dil Kya Kare’, ‘Thakshak’ and ‘Zakhm’. Thank God, I did those films because you learn a lot from directors like Bhatt saab and Govind Nihalani, as their thought process is very deep and different. The learnings from those films can be applied in commercial cinema too, and it can work differently. I have done all kinds of cinema, because I never bothered about things like how it would affect my image as an actor. Yes, I had an action-hero tag, which I think changed with films like ‘Ishq’, ‘Pyaar Toh Hona Hi Tha’ and ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, which were in a different zone. It was never a conscious choice; it all just fell into place. I don’t plan most things in life; I simply follow my heart and instinct.
Did you ever go through a mid-life crisis in your career wherein you were confused about the direction in which it was heading?
Given the fact that I didn’t ever plan my career, and I didn’t take things too seriously, I think I have been very lucky. I’ve been around for 27 years and there has never been a situation in my life where I have had one or two bad years. If I have had three releases in a year, if two have not worked, one has always worked out. Even in my low phase, I had one hit a year. I have never gone through a phase jahan mujhe kaam ki kami rahi. Everyone gets films, but it gets difficult for actors to get the kind of films that they want.
Looking back, do any of your films from the past make you cringe now?
Yes, I have done so many films just for the sake of relationships with people in the industry. Not just me, I think many other actors from my generation have done that. We knew that the film was not going to work (I won’t name them), but we still went ahead and did it for emotional reasons. I don’t regret doing it. Back then, we didn’t bother, but today, we obviously won’t do the same.

n that sense, would you say that today the industry has become far more professional and practical? Is there a certain emotional quotient missing?
That emotional quotient, which was there in the film industry in the past, has gone. Everything has changed and business has taken over. In some ways, it is good for the industry, but we also miss the old times and sometimes we wish things would go back to the way they were. Back then, we could talk and say whatever we wanted, and we would walk into each other’s sets whenever we wanted. We were like a close-knit group, which is not the case anymore.
You have always been a fairly elusive star. You are on social media, but you aren’t too vocal. Do you think that today, actors are fearful of speaking their mind, knowing that they could be lambasted for their views?
Yes, there is a fear of speaking your mind as people start targeting you. You might say something, and they might misconstrue it or turn it into something else. I think people know what you mean, and yet they want to play mischief. Hence, we have to be cautious about what we say. Sometimes, it is not about what you say but how you say it. At times, I use social media to say something important, or voice my opinion on a topic that I feel strongly about. People use social media to promote themselves, not to always make a point.
Talking about promoting yourself, one has never seen you do that aggressively. You haven’t really used the PR machinery to your advantage…
Why should I do it? I have always been this way and I really don’t want to change. I think that my work speaks for itself. If I have to start shouting out loud about myself, I might as well not work and do just that. If there are people who don’t understand this, I don’t care a damn about making them understand (laughs!).
Do you still feel the jitters before the release of a film?
I still get nervous before every role. Even today, before doing a shot I wonder if I will be able to pull it off. I think it is a good thing to feel this way, because if I start thinking… arre yeh toh ho jaayega, then it means that I have started taking things for granted.
The industry is becoming increasingly competitive. Do you ever feel insecure, or do you harbour any fears?
Not anymore. The only thing I want to do is that I want to work till I die. What can I feel insecure about after 27 years? You also have to realise that you won’t be around forever. We are all getting older; I will turn 49 this year. So, I know that I have to evolve and change and take on a different role altogether. In that sense, I am very balanced and realistic.