What made you face the camera after a decade?
When Sandhya, my wife, was writing the script of Samaantar and conceptualising the characters, my immediate reaction was, “Here is a role I’d like to play and no one else should do it”. She was surprised and after completing the script asked me again if I was sure—and of course I was! So it just happened. And it’s been more than 10 years actually. Because a decade ago, I did just a one-minute appearance in Aks. The last movie I worked in as a full-fledged actor was Khamosh, which was in 1986 and that’s 22 years ago.

Before this role came along, had you decided not to act after turning director?
This constant reference to a comeback is actually amusing because all these years, I have been saying that if a role really challenges me and can give me butterflies in my stomach all over again, I’d do it. I never said I would never act. But I never really missed acting all this while either.

What’s so special about this role?
It’s a very fascinating character, something I haven’t done before—therefore, the butterflies in the stomach. At the same time, I feel I will do a good job of it.

Tell us about Samaantar.
Samaantar means parallel. It deals with life and relationships and will throw up questions about ourselves. Like with my earlier films, I have tried to present a thought I haven’t expressed before. When Quest/Thaang that deals with homosexuality and man-woman relationship won the National Award, people said that it was ahead of its time and that it requires courage to make a film like that. I always say that I want my films to be like the very basic toy, the kaleidoscope. A small twist can reveal a multitude of new possibilities. In the same way, I want to explore and unravel the myriad layers of life through my films.

How did you manage to rope in Sharmila Tagore to do her first Marathi film?
Sharmila’s an old friend and we have done Bengali films together. While reading the script, Sandhya and I could think of no one other than her for the role. Her poise, intelligence and acting skill was just what we wanted. When I called her up, her first reaction was apprehension because she doesn’t know Marathi. I told her that Seema Biswas did my Dhyaas-parva and Deepti Naval did Anaahat for me—and neither knew Marathi. I also told her how Bengali and Marathi are similar in terms of language and people. She was immediately convinced and now, we are going to Kolkata to shoot the second schedule of the film after having completed the first one in Pune.

Big Bollywood names like Subhash Ghai and Amitabh Bachchan are doing Marathi films now. But you were probably the first mainstream Bollywood actor-director who veered towards Marathi cinema.
It’s strange but the top heroines of every era have been Maharashtrians—Lalita Pawar, Durga Khote, Nalini Jayant, Urmila Matondkar and Madhuri Dixit. Yet none of them ever acted in a Marathi film. But when my acting career was at its peak, I went out of the way to do Marathi films. My directorial debut, Akriet, was also in Marathi.
I feel every story or concept can be best told in a particular language, be it Marathi, Hindi or English. I don’t succumb to the notion of making a film in a popular language for the masses. Till now, I have made six Hindi films, six Marathi films and one English film—and this has happened very naturally.

Will Bollywood’s foray into Marathi cinema affect the latter?
I don’t think it’ll affect the quality of films but would definitely change the marketing and distribution. And that’ll be a welcome change. Till now, a Marathi film had to compete with Bollywood blockbusters for a release. Multiplexes wouldn’t touch a Marathi film. Anaahat was the first Marathi film to be released in a multiplex and everything else, including Shwaas, came later. But all this is changing now. It’s time Indian cinema stopped being synonymous with Bollywood. Tamil cinema is so much bigger than Hindi cinema. If we can portray Indian cinema in its entirety—with all its amazingly refreshing regional contributions—the world will be astounded with what we have to offer. I am trying to do my bit through Marathi cinema.

Have you deliberately kept away from typical Bollywood fare after Paheli?
I have always kept a distance from it. Even Paheli was not Bollywood in content, it just had Bollywood paraphernalia. I am proud that I could say and do what I did with Paheli despite giving it filmi trappings. And if the subject demands, I will do it again. See, there are two ways of making films—one, you take popular stars, a saleable music director, put in a story that concurs with the Bollywood formula and make a masala film. This is what most of Bollywood does. The second way is that you have this story you are obsessed with and you just have to share it with the world and that’s why you want to make a film on it. The second way is my way. Then, if the story demands a star, like Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jayen demanded Nana Patekar or Anaahat needed someone like Sonali Bendre, I will make it that way. If the story demands fresh faces, I will not hesitate there too. I have no qualms with taking stars in my films.

What’s happening with your first children’s film Dumkata?
It’s ready and due for release in November. We had to postpone the release planned in May, thanks to the IPL.