Critics are my lucky charm: Director Rohit Shetty (Interview)

Other people might fear critics but not director Rohit Shetty, who believes they are his lucky charm - every film they trash goes on to work magic at the box office!

The man, known for slapstick cinema like the "Golmaal" series and "All The Best: The Fun Begins", says he focusses on audiences while designing a project.

"Critics are my lucky charm. I am fine if critics thrash my film, but the audience likes it. The day I make a film for critics I'll lose a lot of money and I don't want to do that," Shetty told IANS in an interview.

His next offering "Bol Bachchan" falls in the tried and tested slapstick category. Releasing Friday, it will see Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan trying to tickle the funny bone along with co-stars Asin Thottumkal and Prachi Desai.

Shetty, who has also made the full-on action film "Singham", denies having "any formula".

"Yes, I target the audience. I just want to make people happy and entertain them and that is the most important thing for me."

Any plans to make films in some other genre?

"I don't know. It should come from my heart more than anything else. I am happy making the films I am making because it is loved by my audience. They are happy watching my kind of a film."

"Ten years down the line, I will be making the same stuff, but I am happy that the audience likes it. There is a smile on their faces when they watch my films," he said.

Son of the legendary fight master Shetty, the 39-year-old made his Bollywood debut as a director with 2003 film "Zameen".

Unlike some others, he doesn't believe in extensive promotions.

"For that you need to be confident about your product and today the audience is quite smart. Creating controversies is not going to help. If you are honest, you prepare them and tell them what the film is all about. They will come to see your film and it will be a success," he said.

"Promotion is important. But you should be honest in telling what your product is and you should not misguide and cheat the audience. I don't like to talk about my work because by the grace of god people know what a Rohit Shetty film is about.Then why try to do some gimmick?" he said.

Refusing to comment on the promotional techniques of his colleagues, he added that " producers have their own idea of promoting the film and I am no one to judge their work".

"...I don't like to be judged by my colleagues; if I want that respect from them, I have to respect them in the same way."

Most of Shetty's films have one thing in common -- good friend Ajay Devgn. And there's no lobby at work, he says.

"There is no lobby, no camp and no club. It is just that you become friends, you become comfortable with a few people, you gel with a few people and you don't gel with a few people so I think that's how the term called lobby comes in."

-Priyanka Sharma