Ritesh has another profession

By Subhash K Jha

Riteish and the rest of the Dhamaal gang are all set encore their roles again.

"Who knows?" chuckles Riteish relaxed after a romp with success. "This time we may go abroad for Dhamaal 2."

Two successes in a row…and Riteish isn't signing any films.

"I've decided to take a three-month sabbatical from my work. I'll be back shooting in November for Sujoy Ghosh's Alladdin. Currently I'm finally paying some attention to my architectural firm that's gone neglected for a while. The only film I have on the anvil is E Niwas' De Taali. "

Otherwise Riteish remains characteristically quiet. No colleague has asked him to build a home. "My architectural business is completely removed from my film career. I don't take my other profession on the sets."

The quiet achiever is currently basking in the back-to-back success of Heyy Babyy and Dhamaal.

"I never expected anything when I started. I just chose the roles that came my way. Today if I've carved a modest niche for myself I hope to carve a door. That can't happen if I do repetitive roles."

That's why, the longish break. And after the break, finally a film where he plays the title role.

But Riteish rightly sounds a word of caution. "I may be playing Alladin. But let's not forget, Mr Bachchan is playing the djinn. And he's there in almost every frame of the narrative.

When Mr Bachchan is around, nobody looks at anyone else on the screen. But just the thought of sharing screen space with him gives me the biggest kick."

Another kick coming up is the sequel to Dhamaal.

Says Ritesh, "The making of the sequel wasn't prompted by the success of Dhamaal.Even before its release our producer Ashok Thakeria and director Indra Kumar had decided to do a sequel."

In the meanwhile Riteish is busy toning up his phsique for Alladin's role...He refuses to badmouth Cash and its director Anubhav Sinha, as some other member of the cast have done.

"Sometimes a film works, sometimes it doesn't. No need to disown it."