Ajay Devgn isn’t just one of the biggest superstars of the country but also a director par excellence and the fact that he always brings in a new element and technicality to the movies he’s made so far, is proof! He’s helmed the hat of a director yet again with Runway 34 and the whole cast and crew had praises for him, including the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. The actor shared that Devgn has worked extremely hard for this one and has done a commendable job.
When asked Ajay how he visualises his cast as a director, he said,
“When you work on a script, you start thinking of the cast and once you cast them, you start working on it again, thinking of that person. And by the time you reach the set, you are very clear about who should perform how and what you expect out of them. Which is why, even the person with the smallest role has done very well. For me the casting depends entirely on the script. For example, in Runway 34, I don’t even know who I would cast if Mr Bachchan wouldn’t have said yes. If he wouldn’t have agreed, I wouldn’t be able to cast anyone. I don’t think I would be making the film in that case.”
The actor wouldn’t have been able to visualise anyone else in Big B’s role. Interestingly, Ajay has directed him earlier, albeit for a small schedule.
He shared,
“I was doing Major Saab. And that time the director fell sick for few days and Amitjee asked me to help out doing that one schedule. I’ve directed him earlier just for a schedule but this is the first time I’ve directed a full-fledged film.”
Clearly, Ajay and Big B have had a long association and mutual love and respect. But Devgn also feels that it would get very cliche if you start talking about a legend like Mr. Bachchan.
Ajay added,
“When I was young, I used to go on the sets with my father and I’ve got a lot of love from Amitjee as a child even. I’ve done 7-8 films with him and it would be cliché to say anything about him. Having said that, I don’t think we have a talented actor, amazing, professional actor like him, not just in India but in the world. Even if he has some problem, physically, mentally, he just forgets everything once he is on the set. Whenever you see him, you only get to learn from him and are inspired to do even better work.”
I must say, I’ve absolutely loved seeing these two powerful performers together and their dialoguebaazi in the trailer itself of Runway 34. So, I can’t wait to explore that more in the film because the conflict between these two, does form the major crux of the film.