"Today I get 4 times than last year" - Riteish Deshmukh

By Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Hungama News Network

Heyy Babyy, Dhamaal, 'Apna Sapna Money Money, Malamaal Weekly - Riteish Deshmukh has been enjoying a pretty consistent outing at the box office over all these years. Ok, so there may have been occasional Cash but it too took a good opening before fizzling out after a week.

With a series of successful films under his belt, Riteish does feel that he is enjoying a good growth rate in his career. And when this also translates into mega bucks, it only reaffirms his box office standing.

"I guess I am doing quite fine career wise. As of today, I getting 4 times of what I used to get in 2007. My market rate has improved and the best part is that the price is being offered by people on their own", says Riteish who is slowly but steadily graduating to two hero films now, "It feels quite nice when reputed producers sign you for an X amount on their own without you having to go out there and push your case."

How about corporate deals in that case? Though he has been around for 5 years and now reasonably established, why hasn't the corporate 3/4/5 movie deal bug bit him yet? How come he is still content signing stand along films like Aladin And The Mystery Of The Lamp (Sujoy Ghosh), Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (Mukesh Talreja, Nikhil Advani), Housefull (Sajid Nadiadwala) and Do Not Disturb (Vashu Bhagnani) with standalone producers?

"Yup, I know how the trend has caught up in a big way but somehow I do not feel as excited about being a part of the game as some my colleagues are", says Riteish, "I believe that one gets trapped on being a part of this entire deal business. I may want to do a particular film at a given point of time but may not be able to do it due to my deal being elsewhere. All of this somehow doesn't fit into my scheme of things. I may rather be a part of stand alone projects."

No wonder Riteish is quite confident about his upcoming film De Taali which sees a global release this Friday. Isn't he worried though that the film took close to 2 years to reach the finishing lines?

"Not at all", Riteish replies promptly, "No one has come to me and said that the film looks dated. And the fact remains that De Taali does carry a fresh look to it. It has been shot well, it looks good and the characters out there pretty much belong to today. I am very confident about De Taali clicking in a big way."

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