Govind Ahuja has changed. The actor who once used to entertain the masses with his gyrations, pelvic thrusts, wisecracks and body language seems to have sobered down. Today, he is always dressed in white and his body language is a bit more sedate.

“I am back at work,” Govinda says carefully, adjusting his hair as he does a TV interview and stopping when he realises that it’s fallen limp on his forehead and that his face is looking a bit puffy. “I am returning to acting. So I want to look my best,” he says candidly and proceeds to finish the interview.

Once Govinda would talk at length about his films with nary a thought. Now he is careful about what he says. His long delayed film Sandwich with Raveena Tandon and Mahima Chaudhary is to be released soon. He is also about to resume shooting for K.C. Bokadia’s film Ek Haseena Ek Deewana with Priyanka Chopra. “I cannot talk about my roles,” says he.

Nor does he wish to talk about his political career ? something he had dived into when he had had enough of the politics of filmdom. “I don’t want to say anything about politics. I want to do some good films now. I am working in three films at the moment. My old friend David Dhawan is very charged up about working with me again.” This also stars Salman Khan and is called Partner. “I have a very interesting role in a Nikhil Advani film,” continues Govinda. “I like his style of film making. He is a very honest guy. I am working hard on my comeback. Ab yeh meri naukri hai and I will treat it like a job,” he adds.

Govinda also reminisces on his links with Dhawan. “We have worked together in so many films. We had taken a break from each other. We just wanted to prove ourselves on our own but we’re happy to be back together,” he says.

Govinda thinks that Dhawan’s films always sent subtle messages. “Every film was entertaining. But it conveyed various messages on how to take care of parents, why people should not tell lies, among other things. And that’s why people wanted to see these films.”

Advani explains that in his film Govinda plays a taxi driver from Delhi. “He is a very talkative driver who falls in love with a foreigner. It is an interesting tale. Govinda is a natural. He will bounce back with his current crop of films like this one and Partner.”

Govinda’s fall began when he started doing David Dhawan-like films with directors such as Harmesh Malhotra, Raman Kumar, Shakeel Noorani, Vimal Kumar and Manoj Agarwal. These directors could not duplicate the humour in Dhawan’s films. Anari No 1, Hadh Kardi Aapne, Rajaji, Dulhe Raja, Joru ka Ghulam had almost similar story lines too. In the meantime, while Govinda was making movies with others, Dhawan too churned out flops like Chal Mere Bhai and Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. Only the memory of films (Jodi No 1, Ek Aur Ek Gyarah) Govinda had made with Dhawan kept his name alive in the public mind.

Today, however, he seems to have learnt from his mistakes. Looking back, he says, “When work came, it came in a heap. I was doing five shifts a day at times and I fell ill. My mother Nirmala Devi told me that it was better to fall ill doing a lot of work than to stay at home and fall ill because I had nothing to do.”

He continues, “There have been good times and bad times. Thankfully, I have had my mother to guide me through everything. Once I asked her why everyone seemed to be after me. She said people are at your back because you are ahead of them.”

His mother had not wanted him to get into films. “She was afraid that I might get into bad habits like smoking, drinking or eating non-vegetarian food. But I promised her that I would keep all that out of the house. In fact, later, my brother and I would sit outside in the car and chupke chupke eat non-veg food and then tell her about it,” guffaws Govinda.

Govinda, however, has no plans to produce movies. “I lost a lot of money on my film Ssukh. So I am not proceeding with my film Seva now.”