A number of Bollywood celebrities may be making their political debut in this election season but actor Abhay Deol says he has no political aspirations and the most he would do is go out and vote.
"I would never enter politics but I will go out and vote. If there are people who want to get into the system and bring some change, they can go ahead and do it. There is nothing wrong with that. People from everywhere have to participate to clean the system from inside," Abhay told PTI.
However, the 38-year-old actor's resume mostly boasts of films with a distinct social and political element. Be it 'Shanghai', which dealt with the issue of land displacement, 'Chakyavyuh' about the Naxalite movement or 'Ranjhanna', where he played a young student leader and socialist.
Abhay feels even without entering politics, he tries to contribute in bringing change in the society through the medium of films.
"I am not a politician, nor an activist. But in my small way I try and bring change with the kind of films I do. I choose my films very carefully. I have done films which are sensitive, which deal with some issues and are a mirror of the society," he said.
Abhay made his production debut this year with 'One By Two', which saw him opposite real-life girlfriend Preeti Desai. The film, however, did not do well. But, Abhay is not disheartened by the failure at all and says he will continue to produce films.
"Well that hurts anyway. Not just because it was my production. It is part of the experience, journey of a director, actor or producer. You are going to have hits and misses, you can't always have a 100 per cent run. I believe in the saying, 'It is not about the amount of times you fall, it is about the amount of times you get up'," he said. Abhay took a vocal stand for the film's composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy when they were asked to to sign clauses which would hand over their rights to royalty over to the music company.
The actor, who was lauded for the support by the music industry, says he simply reacted to something that he knew was wrong.
"I stood behind Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy after the whole music issue, there were two new companies Crecendo and Unisys, who released the music for us. I also did not get foreign distributors, so I released my film through Facebook," he said.
Talking about the Indian film industry, Abhay feels there is a need to boost independent films and create a platform for them as well, which can co-exist with the formula Bollywood films.
"I would like to see a model that supports the alternative cinema to the formula films. I am of the belief that there is a market for everything. As there is obviously a market for the formula films, which should be continued to be made and will be. But steps should be taken to help the alternative industry to co-exist," Abhay said.
"I want a platform for those films which do not have all the ticks in the boxes- songs, dance, star driven, formula," he added.