Riteish Deshmukh who made a very humble start in Bollywood is today amongst the actors in big demand. He might not be amongst the league of superstars who are constantly vying for the top positions of Bollywood, but Riteish surely is the best choice when it comes to the second man in films, today. The guy is never out of work and has now been approached by editor-turned-director Shirish Kunder for two films to be made under Kunder’s home banner – Shirish Kunder Film Company.

“The first film is titled Tees Maar Khan and will be directed by me”, confirms Shirish Kunder. And what about the second film? “The second film is titled Banjo Party and will only be produced by me. We are looking out for a good name who can direct the project”. There were rumours that some Vikram Gupta is to direct Banjo Party. “Not true”, clarifies Kunder. “We are still in the process of finalizing the cast and crew”.

Meanwhile we question Shirish on what’s happening to his ambitious project Joker for which he had approached the biggest stars of today from Shah Rukh Khan to Akshay Kumar. “ Joker is currently on the backburner”, says Shirish. “The magnitude of the subject is such that it needs huge amounts to be spent on the pre-production and special effects. Joker is a project which is extremely expensive by itself, even before the stars step in. And our industry is so star-driven that it’s not possible to make a film like this until the stars cut their pays for the sake of good films”.

Seems like Shirish is disillusioned by the star-system in Bollywood! The director explains, “When Hollywood makes a film like Spiderman , see the kind of money they spend in the making, over the stars. In India we can never make a Spiderman ”.

Further about his production house, Shirish Kunder also confirms that wife Farah Khan’s next film will be co-produced under his banner.