Riteish Deshmukh to stay away from silver screen till next year

Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh recently revealed that he is going to be away from cinemas till the next year as he is currently gearing up for two television shows.

The revelation came after the actor was asked about his present rugged look with long hair and stubble at a promotional event of his upcoming drama film 'Banjo.'

"The look is due to unemployment," said the 37-year-old actor jokingly.

Clearing the air, he added, "Actually I am doing two television shows and will start doing movies from January so till that time I am going to grow my beard."

However, the 'Masti' actor later disclosed that the street look was demanded by his character in 'Banjo' and it even led to a delay of five months in the initial filming schedule.

"There are long stories associated with the look. Actually I was shooting for 'Housefull 3' when I got 'Banjo's' script and we were supposed to start its filming simultaneously. But Krishika (producer) and Ravi (Director) both said they want long hairs so we pushed the film by five months.

Then I started growing my hair and my stubble," he said.

Adding, "I like the fact that I'm looking very different from the way I use to look for last so many years. And I am really thankful to my director and producer who believed that I could really pull off something like this."

Riteish also talked about his experience with the instrument in the movie and his initiation with it in the childhood days.

"Banjo is not a new instrument for me, we had a banjo at home when I was small. I also had few friends who use to play Banjo at banjo parties but off course I had no connection with it from last twenty years and now when I got the script and an opportunity to play it, I was elated to take it," he said.

Sharing the efforts that went into portraying a Banjo player, the 'Great Grand Mast' actor said, "I don't say I can play it professionally but because I was acquainted with the instrument, it was not an alien thing to me. Then we worked hard and met several Banjo players and had long talks with them about how it is played. So I hope people like it. "

Along with Riteish, Ravi Jadhav directorial 'Banjo' features Nargis Fakhri and is set to release on September 23.