by Subhash K. Jha

It's confirmed. Ajay Devgan is stepping into the role of Veeru in Sholay. Originally done by Dharmendra, the part in Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay was offered to Abhishek Bachchan and then Saif Ali Khan. Both had to decline the offer for various reasons. Now an old Varma favourite is doing it. Ajay who's done Company and Bhoot with Varma is now stepping into the coveted role. How would the known introvert play the extrovert Veeru?

Says Ajay, "I think Ramu has changed the milieu and my character to suit today's times. It works for me. My Veeru wouldn't be quite the same as it was earlier." Before Sholay, Ajay plays Vishal Bhardwaj's Othello. "Yes, the film starts this month. We're shooting it at a stretch. I simply love the way Vishal has Indianised Shakespeare. He has placed it in a small town of UP. I think it's exceptional."

It will also be Ajay's first film with Kareena Kapoor. "We were supposed to do Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat together." But before that it's Ajay Devgan's two totally antithetical films and characters in Prakash Jha's Apaharan and John Mathew Matthan's Shikhar.

Says Ajay, "Prakash and I have worked in several films together. But it doesn't mean I've to be in all the films he makes. I wasn't there in his last picture on Jayaprakash Narayan. It all depends on suitability. We get along. We understand each other. There's no doubt about Prakash's abilities as a director."

After GangaaJal, Ajay was seen again entering into Bihar's politics with Prakash Jha in Apaharan. The actor says he was shocked when he read about the rampant kidnappings in Bihar.

"I only knew what I had read in the papers and seen in the news. I had done GangaaJal with the director, so I was familiar with his home turf. When Prakash Jha narrated the script to me I was shocked. The kidnappers treat their work just like you and I treat ours. Everything is done so professionally. They almost have an official language and protocol for kidnappings....poora chai-pani tak ka hisaab banaate hain ..."

Whether it's GangaaJal, Kaal or Main Aisa Hi Hoon, Ajay has been pushing the actor's envelope regularly.

"I learn so much from a director like Prakash. Such filmmakers help me to grow and understand myself and the purpose of cinema. ...Apaharan wasn't a naach-gaana film. But a hardcore entertainer. The kidnappings were just a backdrop. Basically, it was an emotional father-son story. "

"My character goes from ideological inheritance to thorough corruption and final redemption...I agree I've been getting some terrific roles. I guess I'm lucky. I just hear scripts, and go ahead and do what I believe in. I don't regret making mistakes. I learn from my mistakes. I never see any role as a risk. Apaharan was like any commercial film minus the songs...Even the item song started as a song and merged into a scene."

Shikhar will find audiences with another Devgan.

"Looks-wise and conceptwise Shikhar takes me into another territory. It's about two characters who believe in differing ideologies. Again, it's a real subject but a hardcore entertainer. My character doesn't believe in conventional definitions of right and wrong."

"I worked with John Mathew Matthan for the first time. He knew exactly what he wanted, and how to get it. See, you go into every film with the same conviction. How it finally turns out is not up to the actor."

Apaharan and Shikhar will be followed by Rajkumar Santoshi's Saamna and carry forward Ajay's reputation for doing hardhitting film.

"These are what you call socially conscious films. All three are very different from one another. Then I've hardcore entertainers like Ramu's Sholay. I don't look at a film as purposeful or purposeless."

"I've just completed an out-and-out comedy called Gol Maal with Rohit Shetty. I also have another comedy which I'll be doing with Abbas-Mustan with Sunjay Dutt and Bipasha Basu. I'm very comfortable with comedy...I've done comedy with my wife in the cellphone ad as well. It's worked well. This is my second ad with my wife. But it doesn't mean we'll be working in all our ads together. I've just done a solo ad for a soda."

Ajay's versatility in roles is unique. "Everyone is talented. But they all want to play safe. My colleagues are doing what they like doing. I'm doing what I like. Main Aisa Hi Hoon failed. But I stand by it."