Mahesh Manjrekar: I didn’t want to act in ‘Antim’, Salman forced me to do it – Times of India
During the launch, ETimes questioned Mahesh Manjrekar about directing as well as an acting in the movie. Manjrekar said, “I didn’t want to act in ‘Antim’ but Salman forced me to do it. I prefer not to act in a film that I direct. Because you always feel you can’t see yourself right. You don’t know what you’ve done. But then, the role was a beautiful cameo so I did it.” We also asked him about his experience of working with Salman Khan in ‘Antim’. They’ve come together after a long time, even though Manjrekar’s daughter Saiee worked with Salman in ‘Dabangg 3’ in the past. Reacting to the same, Manjrekar said, “As a director, I’ve known Salman for so many years, we have done so many films as co-stars, too. Beyond films, I treat him more like a brother than a friend because I am always at his house. I am well aware of his capabilities as well. Directing him has never been difficult at all. In fact, this time it was much easier because I knew exactly what I wanted from him. The only thing I wanted was for Salman to say the lines and mean the lines. Many a times, people enact their lines. I told him to believe in the lines and then say those dialogues. People tend to scream and shout their lines. With Salman, I didn’t face any such difficulty because I know him and he knows me. I wasn’t scared of him either. That helped a lot. I really loved working with Aayush, too. He is one hell of a director’s actor.”
We also asked Salman Khan if he has ever been critical of Aayush’s performances. Speaking about it, the actor joked, “I will tell him something, he will go and tell Arpita this is what Bhai said. Then Arpita will call me and ask me, ‘why did you say that?’ They’ll all ‘ghumaao’ around and get onto me.” Salman then adds, “Aayush is a sensible boy. He knows his work. He has his brain in the right place and knows how to use it as well.”
Moving on to Aayush Sharma who is playing a different role this time around, we asked him how it feels to essay a villainous character after playing the role of a lover boy in his debut movie. Aayush said, “To play the role that I’ve done in ‘Antim’ required more of a psychological transformation. I never really thought that I’ll have to play a character like this in my second movie. But, more than anything, Mahesh Sir has written the film so beautifully. Also, while I was reading the script, sir was conducting my workshops at the same time. That process really helped me prepare psychologically. I wouldn’t say that the transformation from my character in the first movie is just a physical one, I think it is more of a mental thing. And Mahesh Sir has helped me a lot, in this movie.”
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