Riteish, who hails from a family of politicians with dad, Vilasrao Deshmukh being the former chief minister of the state, had caused a shockwave with his decision to act a few years ago. Now that he is turning producer, Ritz (as he is called by friends) wants to give back to the industry and his motherland that helped him realise his dream. "It's a tribute to my motherland, that I owe everything to. I feel Maharashtra has given me and my family everything. I made my name, my identity, which is separate from my family's identity, here. So yes, I'm dedicating my first film to the state."
The actor is on the verge of locking a script, "I have been reading something exciting and as soon as my shooting commitments are over, I will start the pre-production of the film. If all goes well, my first film will have its release next year. I'm really excited," he adds.

Cricket fever’s in the air and Bollywood’s certainly not immune. Several B-Town stars are known for their love for the game and actor Riteish Deshmukh’s one of them. So much so, that the star doesn’t even mind taking to the pitch even if it’s only in the break in between the film shots.

So it was hardly surprising when he, along with the co-stars of his forthcoming film Faltu, took to playing cricket during their break time while shooting in Mauritius.

While actor Jackky Bhagnani showed his bowling skills, actors Arshad Warsi and Riteish took turns batting, as did actor Angad Bedi.

Actor Pooja Gupta too cheered them on. And soon they not only had the entire unit but also students of the university where they were shooting in, crowding around to get a dekko at the actors take their shots. In fact, the place soon resembled a mini stadium as the boys displayed a natural flair for the game.

Quite a ‘bankable’ actor as far as multi-starrers (mainly comedies) are concerned, Riteish Deshmukh seems to have made quite a place for himself in Bollywood!

Our in house expert and celebrated astro numerologist Bhavikk Sangghvi predicts what’s in store for the ‘funny man’ who celebrates his birthday tomorrow:

“Riteish was born on 17th December 1978 which makes him a Number 8 (Saturn) person in numerology. He is also ruled by Number 3 (Jupiter – Sagittarius) and his compound numbers adds up to Number 9 (1 + 7 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 8 = 30 = 3 + 6 = 9),” explains Bhavikk.

“Being ruled by Number 8 primarily, Riteish is a fighter in life and would never give up anything so easily. He has come a long way from a pale and dull looking boy in his first film to one of the few dependable actors of today with a natural flair for comedy. Although he is born in a politically strong family, he is ruled by the most powerful planet Jupiter and so his personal finances would never be an issue for him all his life. Thanks to the Mars effect, he is also sporty, energetic and has a zest for life,” adds Bhavikk.

You can take the guy out of Maharashtra but you can’t take Maharashtra out of the guy. So Riteish Deshmukh was shooting in Mauritius for Faltu when two girls trooped towards him for an autograph. He told them he’d sign their books after a while as he was about to give his shot. Fair enough, the girls thought and moved away. Then a third girl walked upto him and asked him for an autograph in Marathi. And guess what? He promptly signed her book. Seeing that the other two girls flocked to him once again and asked for an autograph in Marathi. And he happily obliged.

To start with, one has to give the whole lot of brownie points to Riteish Deshmukh, for reasons more than one. Firstly, it was on his own efforts that he came out of his father's political shadow. Secondly, in a very short time, he made his mark in Bollywood. Testimonials to this stand firm in the form of his remarkably performances in films like Aladin, Apna Sapna Money Money Money, Housefull etc... Riteish Deshmukh has now taken a leap into the world of brand endorsements. The actor will now be seen as the brand ambassador of Videocon Mobiles. Talking about the association, the actor tweeted, "Yes its the first brand i am endorsing. Debut n 'pet mein gud-gud' at the same time."

It could have taken anyone some time to recognise Riteish Deshmukh on the stage when Manav Gangwani forced him to step on the ramp on Day III of the Pearls Infrastructure Delhi Couture Week.

For a fraction of a second, it reminded one of Abhishek Bachchan ... The actor was seen with long tresses carefully pulled back with a hairband, an overgrown stubble and a pair of oversized spectacles. So when we caught up with the actor, we asked him if this is a new look for any of his upcoming flicks. “Yeah, my look is for a film called Unemployment and it is starring me in it,” joked Riteish, but later clarified, “No, it is not a look for any film or anything.”

But why such a drastic change – any complications in his love life? “The only reason is that I am not doing anything these days. And when I don’t go out and am not working, I don’t like to shave and don’t like to get my hair cut! And I am not being a Devdas, really,” he explains! Okay, we buy it, Riteish.

We all know that first love always holds a special place in our hearts. It seems Riteish Deshmukh who began acting after studying architecture can’t get over his first love.

The actor will be seen with his drawing board, designs, discussions and site visits as he is gearing up to design Karan Johar’s new house in suburb. Apparently Karan who recently saw Riteish’s designs was completely amazed by his art. Impressed by his work Karan decided to assign Riteish to design his new home.

It seems that every actor in Bollywood either wants to turn as a director or producer, in that list Ritesh Deshmukh is also added as the actor has decided to produce films. Interestingly, Ritesh does not want to produce Hindi films but he wants to produce Marathi. It may be because of being a Maharashtrian.Though, the actor mainly wants to produce Marathi films currently but later on he may think of producing Hindi flicks as well. In-fact, he has already been offered a couple of Marathi films, but was unable to accept them due to previous commitments. He has also decided if the role suits him, he will also act in the flick in near future.

Vidya Balan and Kangana Ranaut will be paired opposite Sanjay Dutt and Ritesh Deshmukh in Dhamaal sequel.

The two ladies will be seen together on screen for the first time.

Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi and Javed Jaffrey will reprise their roles.

The comedy sequel was announced soon after Dhamaal was released in 2007, but producer and director Indra Kumar had issues with locking in the script.

"The film was shelved as Sanjay Dutt was not keen on working on part two after which Indra Kumar put this film on hold and was all set to start another film with Dutt, Anil Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna. However, that got shelved too. Now Indra Kumar has managed to start working on Dhamaal 2 as Dutt is happy with the script. Artshad Warsi, Ritiesh deshmukh and Javed Jaffrey too have given the film a go ahead," a source close to Indra Kumar told Deccan Chronicle.

kshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh are good friends, and have co-starred together in the recent hit 'Housefull' and 'Heyy Babyy' earlier. And now Riteish is happy (and maybe just a little bit jealous) to see Akshay play a Maharashtrian character in his new movie.

Riteish is, of course, a Maharashtrian, and this is what he had to say about Akki's role. "Last night Akshay showed me footage of 'Khatta Meetha' - absolutly thrilled to see AK play a Maharashtrian character Sachin Tichkule," Riteish posted on his Twitter account.

And Akshay has apparently done such a great job speaking the language that Riteish might be a little envious. "Akki's Marathi in KM is better than mine (grrrr)"

Akshay later posted the first look of the movie on his Twitter account (we've got it here for you). And Riteish went on to add, "Priyan (director Priyadarshan) looks in full form- Finally a film on ROAD constructions, Contractors and POT HOLES. Akki's best line is when he says i make my livelihood by contracting the same ROAD- again n again n again- truth behind road constructions."

That's a good line for sure. But to feel better about his Marathi maybe Riteish should try speaking Punjabi in his next, and try to get some compliments from Akki!