After the acclaimed 12th Fail (2023), Anant V Joshi bagged a film with two big challenges — it being a biopic on the CM of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, and him having to lead a film for the first time. But the actor is “happy” with the response that Ajey – The Untold Story Of A Yogi has brought for him.

“No matter how it performed commercially, once you get a positive response from the audience, especially in the age of Instagram, that’s overwhelming. I am at an emotional high, as I was very nervous about how my performance would be received. There are sentiments attached with any political figure from their avid followers, so you don’t want to go wrong at any point,” says the 35-year-old.

But what shocked the actor was that the pirated version of the film got a bigger audience: “We have to fight a lot of monsters when it comes to the box office, one of which is piracy. I keep seeing a lot of people appreciating me in Ajey by seeing it on their laptops. I’d be surprised to see how it is happening, as they would send me screenshots of downloading it from a website and watching it.”

But was he entirely unaffected by the film’s underwhelming commerce? “When you are a part of a team, you want your producer to earn as much. But as an actor my focus has never been on the numbers. I don’t think as an industry our focus should be only the money. We need money to sustain, but we should not forget that as creative people, our core aim is to tell a story with utmost honesty. Not doing enough business could have a lot of reasons behind it,” Anant responds.

Even after four decades in the film industry, the way Paresh Rawal chooses a film is the same as it was on day one. Even a small role is welcome, the actor says.

Paresh, who was recently seen in Ajey – The Untold Story Of A Yogi, elaborates, “My reason for choosing a role has still not changed at all. Main koi bhi chhota role karne ko taiyaar hoon, bas film aur uski kahaani sahi honi chahiye. Mujhe koi dikkat nahi hai screen time ki.”

For the 70-year-old, the scale of a film isn’t a deal-breaker either. He shares, “I did The Storyteller (2022), which was a terrific film. Shastry Viruddh Shastry (2023) bhi aayi thi, I have an upcoming film with Adil Hussain. Maza aata hai aisi films karne mein. When you get such roles, it satisfies the actor in you. If I like the role once, then chaahe woh film chhoti bhi ho, and they tell me ‘We won’t be able to afford your market price,’ that is fine by me.”

He adds, “Main phir paise discuss bhi nahin karta hoon. Bas uss picture ka completion hona chahiye. Acchi filmein karne ka aise dil bhi karta hai phir.”

Through the years, Paresh hasn’t just experimented with different film genres but also dabbled in politics. The actor had contested in the 2014 Indian general elections with the Bharatiya Janata Party and was voted Member of Parliament. How does he look back on his stint in politics, given the recent controversies Ajey attracted due to its political plot points?

“Usko political career bolna galat hoga. Ek term tha mehez. Mujhe political career banana hi nahin tha,” Paresh shares. “But I was sure about one thing: main apne character par daag nahin lagne dunga. I wanted to come out clean, and I succeeded in achieving my motive,” he ends.

After being embroiled in controversy, Paresh Rawal’s upcoming biopic on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will finally see the light of day. The Bombay High Court recently gave the green light to Ajey: The Untold Story of A Yogi, despite the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) initially denying it a certificate.

Considering the knee-jerk reactions films with sensitive subjects attract, is it difficult to make a ‘political’ film in India now? “It’s tough to make any film, aisa lag raha hai mujhe toh abhi,” the actor replies, adding, “Social media kisi ke bhi upar haawi ho jaata hai. But if your neeyat and neeti are good, and the film has been made with honesty, then you should not think about people’s opinions. I’d never be able to understand what each person [in the audience] wants, I can only make something that I like.”

Speaking about the CBFC’s objections, Paresh says, “Yogi ji jaisa character hai toh maamla critical ho jata hai, CBFC saavdhan rehti hai. During the proceedings the court asked their lawyer, ‘Have you watched the film or read the book it’s based on?’ He had not.”

There’s a common perception that biopic makers tend to whitewash their subject; bring it up with Paresh, whose film Sanju (2018) faced similar criticism and he shares, “[Sanjay Dutt] is still alive and working. And this film’s story goes up to when Yogi ji reached politics. Jo public mein hai usko aap untold nahin bol sakte. There’s nothing to whitewash here.”

Paresh’s next outing will see him reprise his role as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in the third Hera Pheri instalment. The film has long dominated headlines, especially since the actor initially exited the project before coming back on board. Probe if there have been any developments in the film’s production and he tells us, “It’s a work in progress; the shoot was always scheduled to begin in February or March of 2026.”