Mumbai. Riteish Deshmukh, who has shown his prowess in comedy and negative roles in Bollywood, talked about the OTT platform. He said,  " I think time has changed the definition of a hero. Now it is not that the hero will always be positive. He will also have grey shades, yet he will be called a hero. The hero has now been made more human."

He further said, “I am talking about theatre and cinema here. Its definition has completely changed on OTT platforms, perhaps 20 years ago, producers would have been nervous about making a show or film like 'Pill' thinking whether it would be a success or not. Who would be interested in the story of a pharma company, but OTT platforms give people the courage to do new things.”
 

What message would you like to convey to people?

Medicines save lives, but the wrong medicine can cause harm. This show will question how we take medicines without thinking. I am not saying that you should doubt your doctor. There are many pharma companies that make good medicines, but some companies do not follow the right process to launch the medicine quickly. The price people have to pay after taking them is very high.

How much do you care about work ethics?

Riteish Deshmukh said, "As far as morality is concerned in cinema, you should be ready to play all kinds of characters. It should not be that you do not play a character which is morally wrong. If you are playing it, then it has to be played with complete honesty. Now let's talk about the film 'Ek Villain'. I had an immoral character in it. He was a serial killer, but it is the responsibility of an artist to play it with the same honesty. It is very important to keep morality in mind while making films, but every film cannot be morally right. "

How difficult is it to do some films that are different from your ideology?

There are certain things that I will not do because of my ideology. However, so far in my career, I have not faced any dilemma that I had to refuse on the basis of my ideology. The ideologies of the people I have worked with have always been similar to mine.

You had posted on Instagram, 'Mother's saree, children's clothes...' Is that reel or real?

It was very real. We thought about it during Covid. It was Diwali then, so we had to get new clothes made. I took my mother's old saree and got clothes stitched from it for myself and the children.

It is very different for a successful artist to think like this in today's times...

At a certain point in life you realise which things you need to pay a lot of attention to and which you don't. Now I buy shoes on sale. I neither buy nor wear foreign designer clothes. I feel I can spend that money somewhere else. I spend my money on food and entertainment more than on clothes. I now wear clothes made by Indian designers.

The project to make a film on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is getting delayed...

Yes, it will start in a few months. Look trials are going on. We have to see which look will come. The challenge of making a film on Chhatrapati Raja Shivaji is that we have to make it with the same respect with which people worship him. Hopefully people will like our effort.