Riteish Deshmukh says he's been eager to start directing movies for a while and is excited about his upcoming Marathi film "Ved" as his first opportunity. With the 2013 film "Balak Palak," the actor, who is best known for his roles in the "Housefull" series, "Ek Villain," and "Marjaavaan," made his Marathi filmmaking debut. He then produced the 2014 film "Yellow."

"I've been drawn to this (direction) for a long time, but I never had the guts to follow it because I was acting. I've been trying to figure things out for the past three to four years”.

"Even the movie that I directed, 'Ved,' is something that worked out itself for me," Deshmukh, who has also starred in the Marathi films "Lai Bhaari" and "Mauli," told PTI.

The actor claimed that since Bollywood is based in Maharashtra as well, Hindi films are a fierce rival to Marathi ones.

"When Hindi film is preferred over Marathi film as a first choice, it is difficult for Marathi film to survive alongside Hindi film in the same state. The cinema share of Marathi films always declines when they become a second choice "deshmukh added

The 43-year-old actor said the state needs at least two such movies each year to draw crowds to theatres, citing examples of critically acclaimed Marathi hit movies like Mahesh Manjrekar's "Natsamrat" and Nagraj Manjule's "Sairat."

"How can we move from the third to the second to being an equal option is the idea. We must ascertain how to draw in (audiences). With a population of 12 billion in Maharashtra, I estimate that 9 to 10 billion people will be speaking Marathi. We can reach that sizable base with a relatively small number of films. Like, "Sairat" performed amazingly. Lai Bhaari and Natsamrat were the movies with the biggest audiences. However, we require more of these movies—two each year, he said.

Deshmukh recently made his online debut with "Plan A Plan B," which also starred Tamannaah Bhatia. The coming-of-age movie, which was written by Rajat Arora and directed by Shashanka Ghosh of "Veere Di Wedding" fame, made its Netflix debut last month.

The actor expressed interest in exploring the digital medium, and "Plan A Plan B," which centres on the oddball romance between a matchmaker (Bhatia) and a divorce lawyer, made his dream come true (Deshmukh).

"OTT was something I was looking forward to at the time, a pandemic had just hit. "Every other day I am offered a UP gangster," the man said, "but nothing had happened" (role). I thought, "Let's do it," when this movie came out because they were making a rom-com. After ten years, I was given the chance to work on a romantic comedy. In addition, it's a fun watch," he continued.

Kusha Kapila, a well-known influencer, and veteran actor Poonam Dhillon complete the cast of "Plan A Plan B."

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