Superhero diaries

Ajay Devgn talks about his upcoming films, the “Ra.One” controversy and the year gone by

REEL TO REAL Ajay Devgn at Amity International School, Ghaziabad. Photo: Special Arrangement

Actor Ajay Devgn was in Ghaziabad recently to spend an afternoon with the students of Amity International School, Ghaziabad, to celebrate the launch of his 3D animated film, Toonpur Ka Superhero . It was an exhilarating moment for the children to see their action hero standing amongst them for real, enjoying their company. Said Devgn, “I had promised some of the students on a previous occasion that I would visit their school on the launch of the movie. And so, here I am.”

Toonpur ka Superhero , which released last week, is the story of a film superstar Aditya (played by Devgn), who has achieved all the success he has dreamed of, but his kids dislike him and would rather have a father who is a real life hero than a reel life one.“Aditya wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his children when, suddenly, opportunity comes knocking when he finds himself in Toonpur, the land of his children's favourite cartoons, where he has to fight Toonasurs (bad ones) to save the Devtoons (good ones),” said Devgn.

Talking about animation films, Devgn said the Indian film industry is still in its infancy. “Movies like

TKS are a healthy attempt at starting the trend in India,” he said. The actor also said that unlike Hollywood, Bollywood was into making films with a wider target audience. “In Hollywood, producers come up with movies targeted at a particular segment of the audience. But in Bollywood the movie is meant for the masses as a whole. Like,

Golmaal was liked by the old and young alike.” He admitted this was also the reason for the lack of children-oriented movies in India.

Ajay dismissed the

Ra.One controversy, describing it as “a rubbish attempt by some miscreant”. Rumours had it that the story of Toonpur ka Superhero was quite similar to that of Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming movie Ra.One .

“Shah Rukh (Khan) doesn't know the story of my movie and I don't know the story of his. The interesting part, however, remains how this person knows the stories of both (the films).”.

The actor said the outgoing year has been a very good one for him. “Four out of five movies were hits at the box-office. God-willing,

TKS would also do well. 2010 was a good one for me.”

He added he is looking forward to the release of his film Dil Toh Bachha Hai Ji , directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, and is planning to do two movies with Rohit Shetty, one action and the other a comedy. “I hope I can repeat the success of 2010 in 2011 as well.”