'I feel like doing a typical Bollywood film'

During the promotion of his 2008 film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Abhay Deol had once posted on passionforcinema.com (a website where quite a few film personalities share their cinematic views) that he hated promoting films. 'Can I risk saying that the part of films I hate most, is promoting it? It's not about the ego, it's not about projecting an image, it's not about being lazy or anything else you might think. The truth is, I love making movies but I just don't have it in me to sell them. I am an actor not a salesman, but most people seem to think that the two are the same,' he wrote.

And during my many interactions with him, Abhay's decreasing interest in giving interviews has become more and more apparent.

At the film promotion of his March release, Road, Movie, we try to capture Abhay Deol once again. Here's what he had to say:

What made you sign Road, Movie?

I always try to do different kinds of films. When I read the script of Road, Movie, I felt the story idea was novel, something I had not seen it in Bollywood before. I have seen (director) Dev Benegal's (earlier) work and have liked it. I love to travel and wanted to see Rajasthan, where this film was shot. So I decided to do this film.

I play Vishnu. His father owns an oil company. He wants me to take the family business forward. But Vishnu has plans of his own. At the first opportunity that he gets, he leaves his hometown and explores the world.

'Basra' will be out of the box: Abhay Deol

As an actor he loves to experiment and as he turns producer with 'Basra', Abhay Deol promises to be high on content. He says the action thriller will not only keep audiences on the edge of their seats but also make them think.

"There are three genres -- romance, comedy and action. They are mainstream inherently; so what I'm doing is taking a commercial genre and within it experimenting a little bit," Abhay told us in an interview.

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of 'Manorama Six Feet Under' to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

" 'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats," he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning. That's when 'Basra' came in," he added.

The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with 'Socha Na Tha' in 2005. He then went on to prove his mettle with films like 'Ahista Ahista', 'Manorama Six Feet Under', 'Ek Chalis Ki Last Local', 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd' and more recently 'Dev D'.

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama...' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen."

Abhay Deol's Road, Movie is fantastic

The one complaint I have against Dev Benegal's Road, Movie is that it ends in 95 minutes. How I wished this road journey had continued for another hour.

This lovely, wise, witty and soul-stirring film has irresistible charm to become an instant art-house hit.

The film takes us on a journey across a rough and exotic terrain, but never forgets to let us know that it is also about the inner journey of a young man called Vishnu . The journey also brings us in contact with issues like police corruption, corporate culture, a desert warlord's philosophy, ethnic stereotyping and passion for cinema.

Vishnu (Abhay Deol )abandons his father's failing head oil business and offers to haul his thoroughly worn out truck to a far away destination across the desert.

He discovers his uncle used to show films in the outdoors to villagers during his week-long drive.

In the climatic scenes, Benegal offers a truly touching tribute to world cinema. People who love cinema will weep at the scene.

The ensemble performances by Tannishtha Chatterjee ,Satish Kaushik and Mohammad Faizal are consistently excellent.

Tannishtha sings a lovely song, using her own voice. And for the love of the movies, she can really kiss. The kissing moment is so important to the film that the censor board should not touch it.

This is Dev Benegal's third film, following English, August (1994) and Split Wide Open (1999). It is difficult to imagine why he has not made more films.

I saw Road, Movie at a 12.45 pm screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday. I could have seen three more movies subsequently. But I was so full of the film that I did not want anything to spoil my joy. I sat in a coffee shop and re-visited the movie for over an hour.

I suspect I will be doing so for quite some time.