Ajay Devgn: I can’t make a film for Rs 1,000 crores!

Post-Drishyam, Ajay Devgn continues to be a busy man. The actor starts work on Badshaho later this month, even as he preps for the pre-production of his own much-delayed Shivay. He even went on a recce, eventually ditching Canada for Bulgaria. He talks shop; revealing his slate of upcoming films... 

Let’s talk about  Badshaho. Are you playing a royal character in it?
No. The title works because of the story of the film. It’s about this character who lives like a Badshah or emperor even though he doesn’t have money. Milan and I have  made some great films together. Like OUATIM, this one too has action, love and drama. It’s not comedy but has touches of everything in it.

Why is your film Shivay delayed?
I had Badshaho and Drishyam on hand, but I had told them that I could only start them after Shivay because I needed to shoot the winter portion in Canada. When Canada didn’t work out, I decided not to  compromise and spoil my film. I decided to plan and begin it next year. When I had gone  location-hunting for Shivay, I called the makers and said, let’s prepone their films. Now I’ve started Badshaho. This winter, I will start Shivay and once that is done, I start shooting for Sons Of Sardar in 2016.
 
Did you have to revisit the budget of Shivay as it was too expensive?
I didn’t have to adjust the budget. I just didn’t want to compromise. The Canada schedule ran into union problems. The bottomline is that we are making a film and trying to be on par with Hollywood. But in the budget which Bollywood allows. So, when I was shooting in Canada, their attitude was that we should spend like Hollywood does, which is economically not viable at all. I can’t make a film for Rs 1,000 crores! Since that was a hindrance, I decided to stop. I found a place (Bulgaria) in Europe, which had better locations and which was financially feasible too. I had problems with the locations in Canada too. The kind I needed were not there, which I found in Bulgaria. Also, there are no unions there and the government was very cooperative. The Minister of Tourism in Bulgaria, Nikolina Angelkova, was very supportive. My first schedule in Mumbai is in December for 4-5 days and then from January next year in Bulgaria.   

Which is happening earlier — Singham 3 or Golmaal 4?
I don’t know… whichever script works out, better. Yes, there is an idea for Golmaal 4 and a seed for Singham 3, so we have to decide which one develops first and better.