Apr 02, 2026 2:42pm IST
Rohit Roy On His Transition From Actor To Filmmaker: ‘I Never Wanted To Become An Actor’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Actor-filmmaker Rohit Roy, who says he never wanted to be an actor, is now pursuing his passion for directing as an ad filmmaker.
In an exclusive interview with Variety India, Rohit speaks about his transition from actor to director and his debut feature movie as a filmmaker.
Your work as an ad director is getting attention, especially your recent project starring Tamannaah Bhatia. When and how did you decide on this path?
I have always wanted to be a director. Not necessarily just an ad director. But my entire focus was always on direction. I never wanted to be an actor. If you can believe that! I got into acting by accident. Because somebody spotted me somewhere. Back in the early 1990s and late 90s, people used to get spotted very often and that's what happened to me. I got spotted and got picked for a show. And then ‘Swabhimaan’ (a 1995 soap opera on DD National) happened, and then, once you start acting, people don't look at you as anything else. But I always wanted to be a director. In fact, I've directed Shabana Aazmi and Naseeruddin Shah in a film called ‘Rice Plate’ (A segment from ‘Dus Kahaniyaan’). To date, Shabana ji keeps giving me gaalis (cuss words), ‘Rohit, why aren't you starting your full-length feature?’ And somehow, I've been extremely, extremely picky in the sense that again, there's no perfect script.
I'm still looking for the right script. Finally, I've got one that I started working on in 2002 and now have the first draft ready. Hopefully, this year, I'll kick that off.
Why did it take so much time?
Quite honestly, I would say everybody, all the big producers at that time, had called me to make a film. But if they want you to make a film, it's about which hero you can get and I didn't want to do that. I mean, it didn't sound right to me. Because I want to direct a film that I want and a story that I want to tell. Not necessarily because I have an actor in mind. If an actor who's a friend suits the role and the script, then it's fine. But if you ask me, which hero can I get, that's not the way I'll work ever. It might take a while, but I will still end up making and telling a story that I want to tell. The other reason is probably that a little bit of destiny is involved. And the third might be that I was so busy acting that people never came to me for direction. For instance, if you're a director, then people come to you with stories, scripts and offers to direct a film. But here I only kept getting offers as an actor. Now people have started calling me.
These ads also happened accidentally. I became a creative director for a couple of ads in 2022. I enjoyed that, as I was telling a story in those 45 seconds. The latest one, which I did with Tamannaah, is probably one of the best I've done.
What’s more challenging, acting or directing?
I wouldn't say more or less challenging. But if you ask me what is more satisfying, it is definitely writing and directing. I don't get as much joy as I get from writing something or creating it on screen. Acting is something that gives me momentary happiness if I give a good shot, but writing and directing are something that give me immense joy. Like, I still enjoy watching ‘Rice Plate’ in a while. Because Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) bhai told me on the set that magic happens, it can’t be created. So that magic happened. I can't take full credit for it. I had a great cast and crew. When I wrote that story, I didn't know that it was going to turn out that way. So, you don't really write stories thinking that it's going to be a masterpiece, but it gives me satisfaction.
As far as the challenge is concerned, obviously, a director's challenges are much more than those of an actor. The actor is only looking at his part and how he's going to work to make the script work or to make the movie better. But for me, the responsibility of a director is a far more compelling responsibility.
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After the post-COVID scenario and OTT boom, do you think it's more challenging to get a theatrical release?
One thousand per cent! Currently, the climate, especially in the Hindi film industry, is such that people are not very sure about the kind of content to make for theatricals. And in the last couple of years, there's been a correction. So, the industry was not booming like it usually is. And today, the way we consume entertainment has changed completely and in the coming days, it's going to change even more. So, we now have to think about what to make for big screens. Because if you're going to consume everything on OTT, then the drama and visuals won’t be as enjoyable in the theater. You won’t find ‘Dhurandhar’ or ‘Mad Max’ impactful on the small screen. So, now we have to think of what is going to be made for OTT and, similarly, what we can make for theaters. Which is why I said mine is a love story. A love story can't be really scaled up. A love story is a love story. It's a human-interest story. So, it sits equally comfortably for theaters and for OTT. And all I'll say is that moving forward, it is going to change even further with verticals coming in.
As a storyteller, how does your mind work when directing a 30-second ad, compared to a two-and-a-half-hour film?
There was a reason I was staying away from advertising. Even though I was actually born from advertising. My first job was as an assistant director to Kunal Kapoor in Adfilm-Valas. So, I should have actually started off with ads first. But obviously, destiny took me to the cinema. The difference is very, very simple. Today, it is much less challenging because we are already writing micro-dramas. So, my writer is already aware that we have to narrate this story in one minute. And once the skeleton of the script comes to me, all I need to do is just embellish it. Honestly, I can't take full credit for even the one that I have written for Tamannaah. The idea was there and it took me half an hour to write the script. I shot two films with her and the idea germinated from my writer. Then I worked on the script, I wrote the dialogues and it was ready in half an hour. Storytelling is storytelling. You can narrate a very bad story in half an hour and you can narrate a great story in 40 seconds. In fact, all my films have a lot of silences. They are not garrulous. I have just done one with Emraan Hashmi. Just before my shoot with Tamannaah, two weeks back and those have also turned out very well. Because I am a filmmaker in my mind already, I treat every ad like a film. Even though it's just under a minute.
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