Circuit breaker

Moving ahead

Arshad Warsi, well known for his roles in comic capers, wants to mature into a more versatile actor with the ability to don different roles, writes Rajiv Vijayakar.

On the day we meet, Valentine’s Day, it’s his wedding anniversary. “I cannot possibly forget the date, so I am lucky!” Arshad Warsi says, with a twinkle in his eye. The actor has just come in after an anniversary lunch with his family. “There is just one combined gift I give Maria — for both our big day and the Valentine’s.”

As an actor, Arshad Warsi is into his 17th year, after starting out with Tere Mere Sapne, produced by Amitabh Bachchan’s now-defunct ABCL. The senior actor even promoted the film at its first look event only for Warsi, prompting him to say, “I owe everything to Amitabh Bachchan. If I am here today, it is only because of him.”

The actor, who has a long history of struggle behind him as well as a stint as a film choreographer (Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja et al) before turning actor, subsequently worked in several acclaimed films that did not do well — Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II (“India’s first cheap quirky film.”), Sehar (“They had no money to promote that damn good film.”), Kabul Express (“Kabir Khan’s brief told me all I wanted to know about a photojournalist.”) but owed his career to Munna Bhai MBBS, in which his turn as ‘Circuit’ became synonymous with comedy.

But Arshad would rather not get stuck in a groove. “I am now typed as a ‘versatile’ actor. I have no image, and I have no strategy,” he says. “If I like a script, and my role, I will do it, whether it is comic or serious — or any other kind.”

Future endeavours

Arshad Warsi’s latest releases are Zilla Ghaziabad, starring Sanjay Dutt, in which he plays an out-and-out villain one will hate, and Jolly LLB, in which he essays the title role of a lawyer who wants to become a celebrity, but has no command, even over his English.

“These films have come to me because I have done good work,” says the actor. “For Zilla…, I liked the script, but I wondered whether they were confident about me as a villain. They just told me I was a good actor who could do any role.”

With Jolly LLB, there was much more leeway for the actor. “The film is a take on the judiciary, which, in this country, is like an attack on itself,” he quips. “I was shocked to know that lawyers are so desperate that they crowd around you for work, which may be as mundane as making any real or fake affidavit.”

Arshad does not believe in acting workshops or method acting. “When you have a great director, you do not need all that,” he says, when asked if he met lawyers to research for the role. “I firmly believe that one need not meet a real lawyer to notice his body language and other finer nuances. A writer and a director have their own vision of a film as they have been at it for a year or more before the casting begins. So I think that an actor cannot come in and rubbish their hard work in minutes by insisting on his own version of the character.”

He adds, “I think acting is a lot like visual effects.”

For Jolly LLB, the actor visited the court for the first time ever. “Did you know that there is no kachchari (witness box) in real life? The courtrooms, and all that goes on in them, have no resemblance to what we see in our films. There is a sequence where I, as a lawyer, sweet-talk a judge. I give her a box of laddoos because it is her birthday, and tell her that I wish that everyday was her birthday. And then there is this scene where a judge makes a lawyer present his case while standing in a corner as punishment for talking too much. Such things happen in real cases.”

Hoping for a hit

Arshad admits that a solo hit would mean a lot to his career. “Though I must tell you that just like a star gives hit after hit and it makes no difference to his career, I give flop after solo flop and it makes no difference to mine,” he laughs. “The only difference between an actor and a star is in the aura — and the money he generates in the industry.”

He also concedes that despite his attempts to do diverse roles, he is essentially branded as a comic. “If something is funny, it has universal appeal,” he says. “That maybe the reason for this: Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Dhamaal, Double Dhamaal, and the three Golmaal films have been noticed more than an Ishqiya. Having said that, let me tell you that Jolly LLB is not a comedy, it is more of a satire. It mirrors reality in an entertaining way.”

Arshad is very happy to have a great antagonist on screen in Boman Irani, with whom his chemistry has sizzled even in the Munna Bhai films. “I was a boxer in school, and the only way I knew I could get better was to compete with better boxers than me. The same is true of stronger actors. That is the only time you shine,” says the actor. “Speaking personally, I am also scared before every film. I am also nervous when I am working with very good new actors.”

A forthcoming film he is proud of is Calling Mr Joe, directed by Sameer Tiwari. “It’s a complete comedy, a modern-day Angoor-meets-the-Hrishikesh Mukherjee Gol Maal. Arshad is also doing Abhishek Chaubey’s Dedh Ishqiya, a sequel to his Ishqiya, that made him miss out on Rajkumar Hirani’s P.K. because of date hassles. There is also a film called Chambal Safari, in which he plays a dacoit who transforms into a tourist guide.

Finally, how does he look back on his career? “There is nothing really in your control in life, so the only thing left is to try and be happy!’ is his parting shot.