Ajay Devgan doesn't talk much. He lets his work do all the talking. So pinning him down for a chat is tougher than you think.

When I finally catch him on the sets of Prakash Jha's Gangaajal, Devgan apologises. "I have been constantly shooting back to back. Besides which I am extremely lazy."

For all his complacence, Devgan has done remarkably in his career. Be it Ram Gopal Varma's Company or Rajkumar Santoshi's The Legend Of Bhagat Singh or Anees Bazmee's Deewangee, his versatility is evident.

"The roles, scripts and directors all counted. I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time. The kind of impact these performances had is scary. I no longer knew what to sign. I have been hearing lots of scripts. Some of then were promising. But after thinking a lot I said no. I cannot afford to make mistakes now."

Devgan is cautious about the scripts he chooses. "Fortunately quality scripts are coming my way. I have been hearing scripts that prove one thing -- our cinema is ready to finally grow up."

His new assignments include Ram Gopal Verma's Ek and the thriller Murder At Shri Krishna Hall, which he is co-producing with Varma. "This is a very interesting phase in my career. I am also doing a very interesting role in Raj Kumar Santoshi's Khaki. I am the only leading man who is not playing a cop in the film," he reveals.

Devgan seems to be moving closer and closer to reality-based mainstream cinema. "While doing a reality-based film like this I've to be careful not to get carried away with filmy heroics. One has to be very careful about technical details while playing a real cop. I don't need to give deadly looks into the camera. Cops in real life don't do that. I find that interesting," he says.

In Gangaajal Devgan says he is following his director's vision. "My character of the upright SP [Superintendent of Police] belongs to Bihar. Prakash being a Bihari knows more about their culture. I discuss my character with him, we throw ideas around. It is very exciting."

When reminded of the eminently forgettable Dil Kya Kare, Devgan laughs uncomfortably. "It wasn't his fault entirely. As a producer I should have let him know if I felt things weren't going right. I think more than a film like Dil Kya Kare Gangaajal is Prakash Jha's forte. You have to see how hard he has worked on every detail in the script. I had no second thoughts about working with him. Gangaajal has been a picnic."

Devgan thinks the future of mainstream Hindi cinema lies in neo-realism. "I know films have to have a commercial angle. Films have to make money. The definition of mainstream entertainment is changing. The audience is changing. It wants interesting, entertaining and relevant films, not the same old bullshit. I am not against commercial films. One of my ready-for-release films Qayamat is a hardcore masala film. But there too, I don't just run around trees like a fool."

Expressing disappointment over the commercial failure of Bhagat Singh, Devgan reasons, "We all worked hard. We knew there were too many Bhagat Singh films coming out at the same time. Don't blame the audience for turning away when four films on the same character are thrown in their faces. We got tremendous acclaim for The Legend Of Bhagat Singh. That was some consolation."

Devgan, who has spent 12 years in the film industry, says, "Bhagat Singh came my way suddenly. When I was doing an extended guest appearance in Rajkumar Santoshi's Lajja, he noticed I had lost a lot of weight and that I would be right for the role. He wanted to look around for a 21-year-old newcomer with the intensity of Bhagat Singh. We agreed I would do the role only when he wouldn't find anyone else. Later he called he said he couldn't find anyone. And I was on."

He loves working with Santoshi. "We share such an understanding that I don't even need to ask him about my role. If he offers me something I know it will do me justice. In Khaki I was supposed to play something else altogether. Raj felt it wasn't right for me, so he changed my role completely."

About his role of a schizophrenic in Deewangee he says, "I don't think such a character has been written earlier. I was very comfortable with the role. It doesn't take me too long to decide how to play a character. Doing the first shot I know exactly how to go about it. Usually I don't know what I will do with a role till the eleventh hour."

As an actor Devgan says he needs to be convinced in order to look convincing. "Otherwise it doesn't work for me . I can't do slapstick comedy because I don't believe in it. One can be witty without making faces and slipping on banana peels."

Unlike his colleagues who have turned producers to make exciting roles happen in their careers, Devgan's assignments are flowing in from the outside. "I turned producer to make the kind of films I believed in. It isn't important for my films to flatter me as an actor. In my productions Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha and Raju Chacha other characters were more important than mine. When I make a film I don't think of what it can do to me as an actor."

Devgan is planning to produce "something really big" with himself in the lead next year.

Among his films on the floor there's debutante Rohit Shetty's Zameen where he co-stars with Abhishek Bachchan. "Rohit has been part of my production house for eight years. He is a sensible boy. Zameen is slick Hollywood-styled thriller." In J P Dutta's LoC Devgan plays a Kargil soldier. "I guess I must be the only leading man who's happy with his role in LoC. Actually I am happy with everything I am doing right now."

Fatherhood is around the corner. "Kajol and I are going to be parents by April end. We are excited and tense." [Last time around Devgan's wife had gone through a unfortunate miscarriage].

His next release is Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot. "One thing that I'm pretty certain about is, I will work on one film at a time. I am going to finish Gangaajal and then move on to Khaki. As for being repeated by directors like Ramu [Ram Gopal Varma] and Rajkumar Santoshi, it's because I am a hassle-free guy. Ramu and Raj believe in the same kind of cinema as me. They don't need to explain the shots. I instinctively know what they want."

Bhoot is Devgan's first supernatural thriller. "And it was tough," he sighs. "I have never experienced anything supernatural in my life. I wouldn't know how to be scared of a ghost because I wouldn't recognise it. In Bhoot I had no reference points."

Does he find it easier to play a positive character like Gangaajal as opposed to the insane Vishal of Deewangee? "There is good and evil in everyone, including me. I am more comfortable with positive roles. Most of the time we are pretending to be these good souls which we aren't. That is a grand illusion."

Getting ready for his next shot, he concludes, "I have eight releases in 2003. Some of these have been in the making for years. What to do? It's part of the game."