He has made movies that earned big bucks and even left a mark in Indian cinema, but filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker believes acting is his true calling. Long before he became a director, Gowariker began his journey in films as an actor with Ketan Mehta’s Holi and worked in a number of movies and TV shows till the late 90s. At a recent virtual cultural fest, referencing his first directorial venture (Pehla Nasha), the filmmaker joked, “Acting has always been my pehla nasha.”

In 2016, Gowariker returned to acting after almost two decades in the National Award-winning Marathi film Ventilator. The filmmaker said he was reluctant to do the film, but was won over by director Rajesh Mapuskar’s persistence. He said, “When Rajesh contacted me with the script, I thought he wanted me to produce it. He said he wanted me to play the lead. I tried for six months to shoo him away, but he was persistent. Eventually, I realised the passion he had. I was not a big Marathi film star, but I saw the earnestness in him. Thank heavens I said yes. It’s such an honour to be a part of a National Award-winning film.”

Over the decades, Ashutosh is known for his historical epics, like Jodhaa Akbar, Mohenjo Daro and the recent Panipat. During the session, when asked if he wanted to take it up a notch higher by making a film in the mythological fiction genre for the big screen, he said, “Demigods and myths don’t need epics anymore. They already exist in our cinema. In cinema, our hero is supposed to be compassionate and fight evil. All those qualities are already there in our heroes. Stars like Mr Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Mohanlal and Chiranjeevi are demigods, and the characters they have played have become mythical. But, if I have to create an epic on screen, I need to devote three to five years of my life. At this time, I have too many stories to explore, and I can’t take out that much time.”

His film Jodhaa Akbar ran into controversy when it released, with several organisations raising objections to the portrayal of Jodhabai in the movie. Speaking about outrage and reactions that usually follow when historical characters are depicted in films, the filmmaker said, “When I am writing a historical, I try to do my due diligence. I weigh my facts, and I discuss with historians and archaeologists, and I create the story based on that. There will always be reservations when it comes to depictions of history. Everyone has interpretations. You have to make movies on what you feel about.”