Exclusive - Pill director Raj Kumar Gupta on working with Riteish Deshmukh, says: 'It was great working with him, he is a fabulous actor'

Director Raj Kumar Gupta on working with Riteish Deshmukh

Director Raj Kumar Gupta, who has given classics like No One Killed Jessica, Aamir, and Raid, to name a few, is being praised for his debut web series Pill.

Pill, which has Riteish Deshmukh in the lead role, is streaming on Jio Cinema and has received positive views from the audience and critics alike. Recently, MoneyControl got in touch with the director, and he spoke about the reason why he chose this as a subject, working with Riteish Deshmukh, and more.

Read Review of Pill 

He also shed light on the reason why he takes so much time to make his movies. According to him, moviemaking is time-consuming, and from now on he will try to make movies much quicker and not take such long gaps in between projects.

When asked about the reason he chose Pill as a subject, Raj Kumar first thanked the audience for liking the project, and then he said, "It is a very common—dawai, or pill, as we say—something that we all take so often for various things that happen to us. What happens if people encounter fake or substandard medicines, and what impact can they have on the person or the dangers associated with them? So that was the thought behind this series, Pill. That's how we decided to explore this subject."

It took him more than three and a half years to bring Pill to the screen. Raj Kumar says he first thought of this idea in 2020, during the COVID pandemic.

The director says he had always wanted to cast Riteish Deshmukh in this role for Pill, and he narrated the idea to the actor when his script was locked.

Praising Riteish for his versatility, Raj Kumar said, "It was great working with him. He is a fabulous actor. Most of the time we have seen him doing comedy; he has also done negative-skewed roles; he has done Marathi films and done very different kinds of roles. I thought this would be a great opportunity to explore this subject with him. And when we had the story, we had finished writing. I decided to approach him, and he also thought it was a great subject, so we decided to collaborate on it together."

On working with seasoned actor Pavan Malhotra, who plays the main antagonist in the series Pill, Raj Kumar said he has known the veteran actor since Black Friday days and wanted to work with him.

"I have known Pavan Ji for a long time; I think I was associate director on Black Friday, and he was playing a very important character. We have mutually admired each other's work over the years. And he is a fabulous actor. So when the opportunity came along, I thought it would be a great character to play. With that thought, I approached him, and we were on the same page with this character. That's how we came together," he said.

According to MoneyControl's review of Pill, the series brings authenticity and intensity to the genre, distinguishing itself from many medical thrillers of the past.

Pill is streaming on Jio Cinema.

Raj Kumar Gupta has directed movies like No One Killed Jessica, Aamir, Raid and is now working on Raid 2.