Shreyas Talpade, who is currently basking in the success of his Marathi hit Poshter Boyz, admits that the film has given him both a new perspective and peace of mind. “I'm overwhelmed by the response to my second home production. In fact, boosted by the success, we may even remake the film in Hindi. Having dabbled in production, I now look at actors in a different way and also understand the craft much better,” he says.

The decision to produce a film was taken because the actor was tired with the offers coming his way. “I was deeply saddened from within and in an unhappy space where I was doing films for friends and money. These were projects I was not convinced about and that started reflecting in my work,” says the actor.

Words of wisdom from Shah Rukh Khan came to his rescue in this state of existential crisis. “On the set of Om Shanti Om, SRK told me to do films that I fall in love with, and nothing else. That set the mind ticking and I decided to take a break, introspect and evaluate my career. Eventually, I realised it is pointless doing films for friends as the story is the last thing they care about,” he points out.

Though the decision was a tough one, spending a decade in the industry, has given Shreyas greater clarity. “When I started out, my friends questioned my decision to do Iqbal, a film in which I had neither a love interest nor any dialogue. But I believed in the film completely and went ahead with my instinct. It worked and gave me the confidence to do other small-budget, off-beat films like Dor and Welcome to Sajjanpur. But somewhere in the middle, I think I lost the plot and went haywire,” says the actor.

However, now, by his own admission, he is back on track. “I have a film called Wah Taj coming up which is the story of a man who claims to own the land Taj Mahal is built on. Then there's a Marathi superhero film, Baji, which is on the lines of Zorro and Phantom. I hope I am making better choices now,” smiles the new poster boy.