I only act when I need money: Ashutosh Rana

Reacting to the opposition of Kamal Haasan's film Vishwaroopam and it being called anti nationalistic, Ashutosh says, "I agree with Kamal Haasan on the view that only those who are anti-nationalistic are opposing the film Vishwaroopam. It is unfortunate that today by creating controversies only are we able to start a dialogue. Problems can only be solved by dialogues and not through controversies. Art and culture is just a reflection of what is happening in the society. If the reflection becomes tainted then we should give a second thought to the image, since art is merely reflecting the image which is the society," he says.

The actor, who will be seen in an intense role in Marathi film, Yera, shortly, says "I never aspired to be an actor in Hindi films only. Instead I wanted to be a part of the Indian film industry which is the reason I have acted in films in seven regional languages out of the 12 in which films are made. Now only five more regional languages are left for me to act in. After that I will be called a Hindustani abhineta which is my aim. The reason I am doing lesser films these days is because I am more involved in my guru Dev Prabhakar Shastri, Daddaji's events. I act in films only when I need money," says the actor who will be seen in Ram Gopal Verma's Ab Tak Chappan 2 and KC Bokhadia's Dirty Politics, next.

Ashutosh, who broke the stereotypes with a variety of roles, says, "An actor should remain an artiste and should avoid becoming a star. A star is forced to become repetitive while it is the duty of the actor to break the stereotypes. I am happy that I am considered as paving the way for getting out of the mould. Now the concept of hero and villain has eroded. We are living in a phase when actors do not tag themselves into categories. I am happy that this concept which I advocated during my early days is now in practice. Though it might not have benefitted me individually, perhaps because it was much ahead of times, but it certainly proved useful in the larger interest of actors," he says.

Thinking of turning to writing Ashutosh says, "I want to write to a book on the characters which I have enacted like Gokul Pandit of Dushman, Lajja Shankar Pandey of Sangharsh, Shabnam Mausi, Nainesh of Danger, Krishan Yadav of Chot and what happens when they come face to face with me as a person. The kind of communication we have, I would like to give it the form of a book. This may sound weird but it is something which I really want to do. The other is a biography which I will be writing soon, since my life is full of colours. It is the life of an average youngster who reached a dead end of darkness till he meets his guru, which is Daddaji in my case, who leads him towards light. I want to write this so that youngsters who have lost direction in life are able to take lessons from my life. The name of my book is Mein Aur Mera Dushman, kyonki mujhe jo bhi zindagi mein mila woh mere dushmano se mila," he says.

Speaking about the 100 crore club, Ashutosh says, "It is unfortunate that we evaluate success in terms of money. When we make a list of successful people we give monetary value of those persons. Economic power is biggest power right now but it is not everything. One cannot recollect names of even few films belonging to the so-called 100 crore club, since they are not part of our subconscious mind as they failed to make that kind of impact. Nobody is bothered about how much money did films of Dilip Sahab or Amitabh Bachchanji make. This did not affect their stature as actors. Aamir Khan ki film kitna kamati hain kitna nahi iss se unko koi farq nahi padega. I don't want to be involved with this category since there is a difference between people seeing a film and liking it and I certainly want to be part of films which are just liked by the audience," he says.