Ashutosh Gowarikar and Rajesh Mapuskar, director marathi movie Ventilator at Novatel in Juhu. Pics/Atul Kamble

On the first day of reading the script of Ventilator, I was a bundle of nerves, because I had completely lost touch with memorising lines,' says Ashutosh Gowariker. 'But nobody else knows this,' he adds with a laugh. The pounding heartbeat and butterflies in the tummy were natural. After all, the 52-year-old filmmaker was returning to the silver screen as an actor after 18 years. His last major role was as Imran in the 1994 Kundan Shah directed, Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na. This, Gowariker followed up with an episode in the hit television series CID in 1999. And now, he’s set to make his comeback with Marathi film, Ventilator. Produced by actor Priyanka Chopra and directed by Rajesh Mapuskar of Ferrari Ki Sawari fame, the film premieres at the Mumbai Film Festival on November 4.