A himmatwala is a person who stands up for others: Ajay Devgn

UTV Motion Pictures and Pooja Entertainment and Films Ltd’s Himmatwala is releasing today (29 March 2013) and superstar and the film’s lead actor Ajay Devgn is very excited about it. “I don’t want to take the extra burden and speculate about the finances. I just hope that it does well and wins the love and adulation of the masses for ultimately that is what 100 core business is all about,”quips Ajay. Most of his recent films like Son Of Sardaar and Golmaal 3 have entered the above elite club. “This remake is completely different from the original Jeetendra and Sridevi 1983 super hit. I say this because the characters of both the films are different. While Jeetu ji was an engineer, I play a street fighter. Though the basic theme is same, the screenplay is very different. But yet we have retained the flavour of the 80’s. We also have the melodrama, the mother sister equation which we Indians revel watching,” he observes. Ajay has no problems doing remakes as long as it is not a classic. “We should not touch something like Mughal E Azam as that will have financial implications as well. But Himmatwala is not one. I have done remakes before (Bol Bachchan and Singham) as well. It is not a special challenge to do a remake for every director has his or her own interpretation when they sit to rewrite the script afresh,” Ajay maintains. In reality, Ajay loves the original Himmatwala which incidentally was a remake of a Telugu film. “I loved it because it had everything from comedy to emotions and action and had gone on to become the biggest hit of that year. However, I am no big fan of the films of the 80’s. I rather liked the stuff of the 70’s in terms of fashion, styling and other attributes. But yes, some films in 1980 were quite good as well. However this period did not boast of something like Sholay. Today, people can now connect with the style of 1970 from Once Upon A Time,” observes Ajay. Ajay is also happy working with Sajid Khan who has directed Himmatwala. “He makes films according to the wants of a viewer. He needs to laugh when watching the scene.” What about co-star Tamanna ? “She is a star down South. It is easy to work with people who are camera friendly.” Asked about dancing to famous number ‘Taki Taki’ from the film, Ajay avers, “I just left it to Farah Khan who has choreographed the song. She knows what I can do and what I can’t.” A little before he wished us goodbye we ask him to define a true himmatwala. “He is someone who stands up for others. Most people fight only for themselves but occasionally, there comes a rare individual who jumps into the fray for selfless acts,” Ajay concludes.