Vicky was brilliant in ‘Chhaava’: Riteish Deshmukh

“Chhaava” is an extraordinary film and Vicky Kaushal is brilliant in it as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, says actor-filmmaker Riteish Deshmukh, who is mounting period drama “Raja Shivaji” based on the life of Maratha empire founder Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Directed by Laxman Utekar and produced by Dinesh Vijan of Maddock Films, “Chhaava” follows the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The period action drama is one of the highest grossing Hindi films of the year as yet with a reported box office earnings of over Rs 700 crore.

“It’s (‘Chhaava’) an extraordinary film. Well directed by Laxman Utekar, produced by Dinesh Vijan because he’s someone who backs great content and well performed by Vicky. He was brilliant. It’s based on the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, he truly is an inspirational personality for all of us,” Deshmukh said.

Deshmukh will play the titular role in “Raja Shivaji” and also direct it. It will be produced by Jio Studios and Deshmukh’s home production banner Mumbai Film Company.

The 45-year-old actor-director, who will next be seen in “Raid 2”, said the team is working on the movie with “utmost respect, passion and dedication”.

“‘Raja Shivaji’ is very close to my heart. I’ve been wanting to make this for the last nine years and I’d rather produce. But now I’m directing it and we are almost 60 per cent done after this promotion (of ‘Raid 2’) will get back to working on it. We have a long way to go…” he revealed.

In “Raid 2”, Deshmukh plays a corrupt politician called Dada Manohar Bhai who is chased by Ajay Devgn’s IRS officer Amay Patnaik.

The film, directed by Rajkumar Gupta, is the sequel to 2018’s “Raid”. It also features Vaani Kapoor and Rajat Kapoor in pivotal roles.

Deshmukh had made a space for himself as an actor with great comic timing with films such as “Masti”, “Malamaal Weekly”, “Dhamaal”, and “Housefull”. His career turnaround came in 2014 when he received widespread critical acclaim for playing a serial killer in “Ek Villain”.

The actor said he around a dozen of negative character roles, but none of them were as exciting.

“Sometimes the films were not great. For me, it’s very important the film should be (great). I should like the film and ‘Raid 2’ was one such film that I really enjoyed. I was glad that the antagonist in the film was as important as the protagonist. It was good to be part of the world of a Rajkumar Gupta film as an antagonist.”

Deshmukh also condemned the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people last week in the “harshest way”.

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“Lot of innocent tourist brothers and sisters have lost their lives and our government is taking strict actions. We wholeheartedly are in support of every action taken by the honourable government and we hope that the perpetrators of this crime are brought to justice and in that regard, whatever is expected from us as part of the film industry and as citizens, we are always there.”

“Raid 2” is backed by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, and Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek Pathak under the banners T-Series and Panorama Studios, respectively. The film is slated to release in theatres on Thursday.