Riteish Deshmukh has long been a familiar face in comedy, but with the release of Kakuda, he stepped into horror comedy gender for the first time. Riteish says he chose the project because of his connection with Munjya and Kakuda director Aditya Sarpotdar.While audiences are used to seeing Riteish in front of the camera, in the last decade he has also produced and directed films. In a recent chat, he talked about what interests him in new projects. Riteish says, “I haven’t done a comedy in a long time. This is my first horror comedy. I’m back on the sequels of three of my movies, which I’m grateful to have in my life, so I’m enjoying them. as much as the audience – Housefull, Dhamaaland Masks. Now the following sequels take place. I do whatever excites me at the time.

The only two people who own the entire film are the director and the producer

Riteish says that he started his journey in films without intending to be a part of it as he never wanted to be an actor. “I’m an accidental actor. I got a movie offer and I decided, let’s try. There are life-defining moments, and me saying yes to that offer was that moment for me. I’ve been producing movies for 10 years and then I turned director The overwhelming response to marathi movie Ved (2022) which I directed gave me the strength to make the kind of films I wanted to make.”
Riteish is currently directing a film about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Talking about how he chooses his projects, he says, “My choices as a producer are very different from my choices as an actor because my choices as an actor are based on what is given to him, but when I produce, I get to choose what I want to do as a film director. Producing is extremely gratifying because as an actor you have a specific role in the film, but when you produce, you own the entire film. Only two people who own the entire film are the director and the producer. Only they know what’s going on and they’re involved in every department, I’m not involved in direction, sound or art just come on set and say, ‘What’s my chance?'”

Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza

People keep asking, “reel kab daal rahe ho aap?”

Riteish and Genelia’s reels are quite popular and wherever she goes, she often ends up answering questions about when she’s doing her next reel. He says, “Most of the roles we make — the content is user-generated, we just put a spin on it through our performance. We don’t have to do it. But I remember at the airport, I met a lady who said, “It’s been 20 days.” I asked, “Why?” And she said, “That you haven’t posted any coils.” And I said, oh well, even the guard yesterday was asking me, “Reel kab daal rahe ho aap?” The reason we do it is because people have as much fun watching it as we do making it.”

Aditya Sarpotdar’s awareness is extremely high as a director

Aditya Sarpotdar, the director of Munjya and Kakuda, had worked on films from Riteish’s production house and thus got involved with Kakuda. Riteish says, “I want to work with Aditya because he is a very competent director – he is technically sound, knows his music, background score and is aware of the cinema that is happening around the world. His awareness is extremely high as a director. And when he came to me with this story, I thought, if he said yes, then there must be something special for him to agree to.”

Riteish Deshmukh