'Golmaal' has now become a brand: Ajay Devgan

After playing the protagonist in two highly successful comic capers - "Golmaal" and its recently released sequel "Golmaal Returns", Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan says the title has almost become a brand in itself.

"It feels great to see the kind of business 'Golmaal Returns' has done in its first week. It has broken records and has become one of the biggest hits of the year. I am very positive about the third film in the series as 'Golmaal' has almost become a brand now," Ajay told IANS.

The actor was in the capital with wife Kajol to flag off a special senior citizen marathon for Harmony magazine Sunday.

According to Ajay, brand 'Golmaal' is of consequence to him as long as the usual team including himself, director Rohit Shetty, actors Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor and other crew members stick together.

"'Golmaal' as a brand is a team effort and the brand goes together with all people who are associated with it. We will not be able to be create the same mood without each other," he said.

Released Oct 29, "Golmaal Returns" stars Ajay and Kareena Kapoor as a couple. Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Celina Jaitley, Amrita Arora, Anjana Sukhani and Paresh Rawal are other members of the film's cast.

Shetty has even announced "Golmaal 3" after "Golmaal Returns" managed to rake in Rs.4.5 million in the domestic market and Rs.1 million internationally in the first week of its release.

Ajay, who last featured in his directorial debut "U, Me Aur Hum", which was critically acclaimed, says although he was expecting a good response, the reactions to the film have been "exceptional".

"People have been talking about the film and have been telling me it was really good. That is what our idea was - to gel together and make people laugh. Even my daughter Nysa loved the film and wants to go and watch it again," he said.

Prior to "Golmaal Returns", Ajay featured in Shetty's all previous directorial ventures including "Zameen", "Golmaal" and "Sunday". He says it is because they have a lot of faith in each other.

"I have known Rohit for almost 19 years now. I have a lot of faith in him and we share a great camaraderie. We are good friends and share a great rapport. I try not to interfere in his work or for that matter with any of my directors. We definitely discuss everything, but I leave the final call to the director," Ajay said.

Right now Ajay is busy shooting for his upcoming films - Vipul Shah's "London Dreams", a three-dimensional animated film "Toonpur Ka Superhero" and Prakash Jha's "Rajniti", apart from one action film. The actor is happy doing a variety of projects.

"I am doing all kinds of roles. There's action, comedy and serious drama. But comedy seems to be working better these days as people enjoy humour. They have become bored of serious stuff and they don't want to take too much of stress when they go out to watch a film.

"The audiences enjoy it more when they spend two stress-free hours and come out laughing with their whole family," he said.

This year he was also seen in "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag", "Halla Bol", "Sunday" and "U, Me Aur Hum". While "Halla Bol" and his directorial debut "U, Me Aur Hum" was critically acclaimed, "Sunday" did good business at the box office.

Last updated on Nov 10^th, 2008 at 13:03 pm IST--IANS