Abhinay Deo: Audience habituated to be spoon-fed a type of comedy

Abhinay Deo

Director Abhinay Deo says his recent film, Blackmail, starring Irrfan Khan, was a gamble because the Indian audience is used to being served only a certain kind of comedy, and he was attempting something different. Deo says, "It was a gamble. Nobody would think of putting money into something so outlandish. But my producers did, knowing fully well that this kind of comedy does not necessarily appeal to the audience."

He adds, "The audience is habituated to being spoon-fed a certain kind of comedy. It is those comedies that make the big bucks at the box office. My biggest victory as far as Blackmail is concerned is when my humour is seen to carry forward the tradition of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's cinema," says Deo, whose parents veteran actors Ramesh and Seema Deo are best remembered in Mukherjee's 1971 film Anand.

Deo's most triumphant moment, however, was at the Censor Board. "They sent me off with an U/A certificate. The film's theme is adultery, and sex is part of the plot but there is no profanity."

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