I think Aditya is a gifted director: Riteish Deshmukh

Riteish Deshmukh on working with wife Genelia Deshmukh after four years, and teaming up with Aditya Sarpotdar one more time

Last year, Riteish Deshmukh and Aditya Sarpotdar teamed up to make the thriller-mystery film, Faster Fene, which went on to do well at the box office. This year, the duo has come together with a new genre for Mauli. The actor shares how director Aditya has an immense grasp over his craft. “I think he is a gifted director. I say that because rarely do you get to see directors who have good knowledge about their work. It is important to know your story and know how you will say it. He is a writer, too, but he doesn’t let that overpower the actual writer of the film,” says Riteish.

Riteish Deshmukh is back with his second Marathi film, Mauli (Shankar Narayan/HT PHOTO)

When Riteish was looking at making Mauli, he wanted to make a commercial film. But he wasn’t sure if Kshitij Patwardhan (writer) and Aditya would agree, as they had never attempted it before. “A lot of people make critic-friendly cinema. Commercial cinema doesn’t really fall into that bracket. Here, we wanted to practically cater to the audience and we were not looking as much to get that extra rating,” he says.

Genelia will be seen on big screen in a song Dhuvun Tak in the film Mauli

Interestingly, the film features a song, Dhuvun Tak, that is picturised on Riteish and wife Genelia Deshmukh. However, the actor adds that it wasn’t an easy task. “It was critical, as I had to ask her to come down from America for three days. I had to convince her for the song. A day before the shoot, I had to tell her that she has no lines though it is a duet. But she has been gracious and like always, she has blown me away,” he shares.