It has been 14 years since Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots released but Omi Vaidya continues to be remembered for playing Chatur Ramalingam aka Silencer in the film that also starred Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Boman Irani. Omi is now all set don the hat of a director and one of the writers with the Marathi movie Aaichya Gavat Marathit Bol, where he will also be playing the main lead. However, in an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama, he revealed that he initially had no plans of becoming a director with this film.

EXCLUSIVE: Omi Vaidya aka Chatur on becoming a director, “Wanted to be a director before I became an actor”

“It was extremely hard, let me tell you,” he said. “I did not want to take up the direction role. It was actually only because I had extinguished all my search for the right director for this film. I could not find that person whom I can completely put this film on. I had promised many investors that I would ensure that they money is well taken care of. Who can take care of it more than anyone else? Me. I have put my name on the line. I have put everything on the line.”

It was the crew of the film that encouraged Omi to direct the movie. “All my teammates said that you have such a strong vision. You keep trying to fit someone into your vision; you should just direct yourself. I did not have that confidence. But I made a team that said that we will get the best in the business. They said that they will have assistant directors who have made Marathi films before; who understand the sensibilities. And when I will act in front of the camera, they will direct me” he said.

Omi also agreed because direction wasn’t completely alien for him as he had learnt it in 2004. He revealed, “I actually wanted to be a director before I became a professional actor. That was my focus. But I had done acting. It was like second nature to me. Sometimes, what you do easily and what you want to do are different things. I felt work is more challenging behind the camera. There are so many more things to manage. And you have a greater ability to manipulate the audience because you can use sound, do a thing and everything. An actor can only manipulate his body and voice. If he does a good job but the other actors don’t and the director isn’t good, it doesn’t matter how good a job he does. So I was limited because I had to depend on so many other people, hope that they did their job well and the script is good.”

Sharing his earlier days, Omi added, “I had learnt direction and editing. I got paid for editing jobs. I made short films of 20-25 minutes to make sure I had done it right. They were good. They won awards at film festivals. But I never found that film that I could do. Those films that I wanted to do were maybe not commercial enough. I have scripts ready to go. But as you know, this is show business. So there has to be a business side.”

Omi finally found a script he felt he could go ahead with. “Then I wrote this script with a wonderful friend of mine (Amruta Hardikar). And the business aspect was good because I had done something before (3 Idiots) that had worked off. I had a brand (Chatur). It was a brand I could control. Many people have used the brand of Chatur but they haven’t done a good quality of work. So I had to finally take that into my own hands and make sure that we take care of this brand and also ensure that it’s not abused,” he said.

Aaichya Gavat Marathit Bol is about an NRI (Non-Resident Indian), played by Omi, who returns to India to get married because of a special reason. Omi added that he could show more range as an actor in this film. “Chatur is very one-note,” he said. “He doesn’t change in the film. And he shouldn’t because he is the negative comic lead. If he changed than the film would be about him. Here we have a different character. Maybe he has some similarities with Chatur because of the language. But he is the main character. So, he must progress and change. Through that change, we see something much more than Chatur.”

Produced by TATG Films LLP and also starring Sanskruti Balgude, Parth Bhalerao, Supriya Vinod and Vidyadhar Joshi, Aaichya Gavat Marathit Bol is all set to release in theatres on January 19, 2024.

Also Read: 14 years of 3 Idiots EXCLUSIVE: Omi Vaidya recalls, “Film was life-changing, before its release I could travel in trains, BEST buses and be a normal citizen”

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