The film Halla Bol was premiered in Delhi Tuesday, January 9. The film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi features Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan and Pankaj Kapoor in lead roles.
Devgan plays Ashfaque, a small time actor, who starts off acting in street plays but goes on to become a flamboyant superstar. His rise to stardom, however, distances him from his loved ones and his values and principles.
Kapoor plays a reformed terrorist who manages the street theatre troupe with which Ashfaque works and which performs street plays to highlight societal ills and wrongdoings.
Devgan may have played a flamboyant superstar in the film but in real life he is one of the most down to earth Bollywood stars who focuses on his work and rarely endorses products or events.
Devgan admitted that he was uncomfortable playing his role and asked Santoshi to let him play himself instead but Santoshi would have none of it.
“He didn’t want it that and I had to play it according to how he wanted me to play,” Devgan joked.
Leading lady Vidya Balan was conspicuous by her absence at the press event in New Delhi. Film premiers are normally held on Thursdays, a day prior to the release of the film on Friday.
“There is no special reason for the film being premiered on Tuesday,” says Santoshi.
