For his Hindi debut directorial, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior that released in January this year,
Om Raut got a star cast of Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan, a feat not many filmmakers are able to achieve. In his next film, too, he has got Prabhas on board as the hero.
The director says there’s no beating around the bush about the fact that he has been rather fortunate when it comes to the cast of his films.
“It’s true and there’s no two ways about it. I’ve been absolutely lucky that these bigger actors and stars like Mr Devgn or Mr Saif, and now Prabhas have shown faith in my writing and the vision that I put across. If Mr Devgn didn’t trust me, we wouldn’t have had Tanhaji or anything that I have now. They’ve supported me and that’s the reason why things are happening in my life,” he expressed gratitude.
Raut admits that having support from a big star is very crucial for any director when getting into Bollywood, otherwise there’s a fear of getting lost.
“Backing of a big star is 100% important - it either makes or breaks a director. And not just a newcomer, but having a backing is important for any filmmaker. You need to have someone to back you, support you in everything you’re doing and to give you complete freedom in what you want to do. When I turn producer in future, I’d like to do the same as well,” he shares.
While Raut readily talks about the support the industry people have given him, he refrains from delving into the insiders vs outsiders debate.
“I live in my own cocoon. I don’t go to any parties. I’m an introvert in my personal life. I’m not really part of all this, one way or the other. So, I have no idea, I’m just one film old,” he reasons.
He may not be so clued in when it comes to raging debates in Bollywood, the filmmaker says he has made the most of the lockdown, work wise.
“I’m not complaining about the lockdown at all. The subject of my next, Adipurush, has been there with me since I was in college. I had written something like this before but during the lockdown, I got the opportunity to get to my desk again, fetch out some older scripts and rework them and that’s how this happened. I called up Prabhas over the phone and he saw merit in it, so immediately when we entered the Unlock phase, I flew to Hyderabad,” he says, adding the shooting will commence in January.
