He has successfully juggled between acting and filmmaking but Mahesh Manjrekar now wants to focus solely on staying behind the camera and insists that Salaman Khan's home production Dabangg would be his last film as an actor.
"Acting is closed and Dabanng will be my last film as an actor in Bollywood. I don't know, it does not excite me anymore and I have always believed I am a limited actor. I am not a bad actor but a smart actor and I have exhausted my smartness now," Manjrekar told PTI in an interview.
Manjrekar, who made his directorial debut with Vaastav in 1999 stayed away from direction in Bollywood after helming Amitabh Bachchan starrer Virrudh in 2005 and made his mark as an actor with films like Kaante, Zinda and Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle.
He is now back to direction with City of Gold, which is about the condition of Mumbai's mill workers in 80s and the birth of organised crime in the city.
"It was so shocking. After reading the script I felt so ashamed that I knew nothing about it. When I read the script I found this calamity to be of such big proportion. I was aghast, 3 lakh workers and their family were cut off and nobody blinked," Manjrekar said.
"It's the longest strike running ever, they are just asking for a roof over their head. I just want to highlight their plight with this movie," he added.
"It was so shocking. After reading the script I felt so ashamed that I knew nothing about it. When I read the script I found this calamity to be of such big proportion. I was aghast, 3 lakh workers and their family were cut off and nobody blinked," Manjrekar said.
"It's the longest strike running ever, they are just asking for a roof over their head. I just want to highlight their plight with this movie," he added.
Shot in Marathi and Hindi, the film that releases today stars 50 characters including Seema Biswas and Satish Kaushik.