Govinda: Open To Reconciliation With Salman Khan, David Dhawan

You have a double role in Rangeela Raja…
Yes, I am playing a double role in which, believe it or not, I slip into four different characters. Audiences who have been waiting for my comeback will be very pleased to see what I have done in Rangeela Raja. It is almost like a rebirth for me and I feel happy to be a part of Pahlaj Nihalani’s film. Rangeela Raja is a complete family entertainer, a story of two brothers – both essayed by me- who are completely different from each other. One character is inspired by Vijay Mallya; so, you see him as a rich, flamboyant business tycoon. The other brother is a spiritual guru, along with the lines of Baba Ramdev.

In what way is it different from the other Govinda films?
It has been 9 years since I have been waiting for a film like this to release and make my presence felt by creating havoc at the box office in a big way. In between, a film like Happy Ending was appreciated for my performance but the film by itself did not create any havoc at the box office. I am personally very thankful to Aditya Chopra for having had the confidence to launch me after a long hibernation period, when my films were flopping one after the other, in his film Kill Dil in which I played a hardcore villain and also Saif
Ali Khan who was bold enough to cast me in his film Happy Ending, though that film also flopped. I confess that I had lost out on offers in films following my stint in politics

Does this mean you will never indulge in politics in future?
Right now I am just doing my work and not straying from my main vocation- that is acting in front of the camera and not at all looking at any other work. I regret having left films for the sake of politics. After I left the Congress, I became neither ghar ka na ghaat ka, as I was not wanted by Congress as well as BJP.

What exactly went wrong with your career?
My films had comedy but I did not do comedy. Films like Bade Miya Chhote Miya, Shola Aur Shabnam and Aankhen were serious but I was sidelined by the industry when I was the only actor who was also a part of films as a hero. Though several heroes had started playing the role of the comedian they could not succeed like me.

You seem to be hurt by some of your old industry friends like David Dhawan and Salman…
David hurt me by a comment at a party and after that, I didn’t want to work with him. Later I had sent him some of my producers but he was not eager to work with me. Salman too had sent me a project of a Hindi film based on Mahesh Manjrekar’s Shikshanchya Aicha Gho but I didn’t like the subject and refused it and so Salman was hurt. I am open to reconciliation with them.

What about your heroines? Are you still in touch with them?
Yes. Raveena is a good friend of mine and I know she will always be there for me. Karisma, with whom I have done the maximum films, I consider as my lucky mascot.

Are you open to web series?
Why not? If someone comes to me with a good offer, similar to work done by Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Vivek Oberoi, I am game. I admire stars like Amitabhji, Rajinikantji and Dharmendraji and I want to have a long successful tenure like them.

Tell me one thing about you which not everyone is aware of…
Sindhis have always been my lucky mascots as far as my career is concerned, whether it is Ramesh Taurani, Nandu Tolani, Ashok Ranglani, Vasu Bhagnani or for that matter Pahlaj Nihalani.