Ajay Devgn talks about actors being criticized for doing wrong endorsements advertisements

After a six-year hiatus, Ajay Devgn is back in the director's chair. Shivaay (2016), his most recent film, may have generated as much buzz for conflicts as it did for content. The actor takes on the male lead of a pilot who is being examined in Runway 34. In the thriller, he also directs Amitabh Bachchan and Rakul Preet Singh.

Ajay talks about the script and praises it by saying “While working on the script (of Runway 34) I got so involved that I thought I should take it (as a director). Second reason was that I like to do films that are challenging, the story of this film was very strong. In Shivaay also, the kind of action and camera moving on the mountains, was something that was never tried before. Here also, the drama that was needed to be created in the cockpit was not a very easy job to do, you can’t do it in a regular way, so I had to create a lot of things technically also to create drama.”

Ajay further explains “An actor has to take a backseat on set for me, as the director is directing the actor. But when you come in front of the camera, everything needs to be done as an actor. It is a lot of hard work.”

He further said “It is like a dream come true. The kind of performance, the kind of dedication he can give… He is a director’s actor. He is a legend.”

During the interview, Ajay was also questioned how actors are frequently chastised for the product lines they choose to endorse. Recently, Akshay Kumar was chastised for promoting a pan masala brand; Ajay and Shah Rukh Khan also endorse the same brand. While the trio appears in elaichi advertisements, they are classified as surrogate advertising.' It is a type of advertising in which prohibited goods, such as cigarettes and tobacco, are endorsed as another product.

Ajay replies “It is a personal choice. When you do something, you also see how harmful it would be. Some things are harmful, some are not. I would say it without naming it because I don’t want to promote it; I was doing elaichi. What I feel is more than advertisements, if certain things are so wrong, then they should not be sold.”