Riteish Deshmukh on turning crooner, soon- to- be producer and moving on from comedy

Riteish Deshmukh has been on an overdrive for the past few weeks. The actor, however, feels that it is all about knowing your product and pitching it right. He feels you need to know the audience for your film and also what will make them tick.

Apart from his acting endeavours, he has also turned singer and lyricist. There is also work in progress to roll his production house. As he prepares to don several hats, we ask him...

You have been singing/composing of late. When did you realise the singer in you?
I feel everyone who has a voice, can sing. I was happy that I was asked to sing a Marathi song in my film. I penned the lyrics as well. I can't really judge how it sounds but I'm just happy to have sung and that too an entire song. To tell you the truth, I'm really a bathroom singer and I'm no different from anyone else out there, who enjoys singing while having a shower.

Do you ever see yourself moving away from doing comedy and light-hearted roles?
Consciously yes. I'm looking forward to doing interesting films next year one of which is a thriller and another is an urban action drama.

Have things moved on the production front?
So far, so good. We should have something on the floors by the year-end. It's progressing slowly and steadily in the right direction and I should soon be able to announce our first project.


Any plans to get into direction?
No, not at all.

Now that you are turning filmmaker, what according to you is the recipe for a box office success? What do you think it means today to be part of the R 100 crore club?
If there would be a formula, every film would be a blockbuster. There is honestly no formula to success. It's great when films are appreciated by audiences and their appreciation shows when the collections reach huge numbers.

There has been buzz that you and wife Genelia will feature in a forthcoming project.
There's nothing on that front for the moment.