Young actors are willing to experiment: Kanu Behl

Mumbai: Director Kanu Behl is glad that the young crop of actors like Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt are are experimenting with edgy roles in films like "Badlapur" and "Highway".

"I think actors today are showing willingness to do all kind of films. Like Varun Dhawan has done a film like 'Badlapur', Alia has done 'Highway', Ranveer Singh is trying to experiment in his own way. New crop of stars are willing to experiment," he told PTI. Drawing a similarity between Bollywood and Hollywood, Behl said both the film industries focus more on stars than content.

"I think Hollywood is same as Bollywood when it comes to doing films with stars. I think actors dominate because they bring in audiences and hence they ensure certain box office (results). So the bigger your budget, the more your need to get a star," he said.

"The only difference is actors in Hollywood are more perceptive and in tune with playing characters rather than themselves, I think this is where we are lagging behind," he said.

Behl is excited about his debut directorial venture, "Titli". "I discussed the idea of 'Titli' with Dibakar Banerjee and Aditya Chopra had also liked the idea. That time YRF had come to DB for a three-film deal and then 'Titli' ended up being part of the deal. Adi was kicked about 'Titli' and two films with Dibakar," he said.

The director said both Aditya and Dibakar did not interfere while he was making the film. "I was fortunate to be working with accomplished filmmakers Aditya Chopra and Dibakar Banerjee.

"They are different... They come from varied school of cinema, but they both never interfered with the film. Both liked the script the way it was, the journey was to take the script to screen, which is a director's job," he said. Behl is optmisitic about the box-office prospects of "Titli".

"In today's scenario, audience have become smarter, they are rejecting bad films. They don't give into star ploy thing, they want to see good content. Even if a film gets a good opening it falls by the weekend. It is content-driven today. For a film like this, word of mouth helps," he added.