Idiot on a Roll

As Omi Vaidya,a.k.a Chatur Ramalingam,buys coupons for his quota of pani puri at a Bandra eatery,the crowd collects excitedly.

As Omi Vaidya,a.k.a Chatur Ramalingam,buys coupons for his quota of pani puri at a Bandra eatery,the crowd collects excitedly. A giggly girl wants a photo with him. An elderly man winks and says,Balatkar?,while a group of boys shouts more of his dialogue from the film 3 Idiots . Vaidya seems to enjoy the attention as much as the sweet-and-sour street fare.

Before the film released,I had asked director Rajkumar Hirani if I could give a couple of interviews. He stopped me,saying nobody knew me and I should wait till the film released. My role was a surprise they had planned for the audience, the US-born actor reveals as he makes way to the pani puri counter with wife Meenal Patel. The actor,who lives in Los Angeles,was the best-kept secret of 3 Idiots and his lines have become the most popular. Barely two weeks since the movie released,his portrayal of a mean and manipulative student who mugs up study material and talks in a foreign accent blended with a south Indian twang has already won him a nomination for the Best Actor in a Comic Role at the Nokia 16th Annual Star Screen Awards.

Life has changed overnight for the 27-year-old. Hes keen to do more Hindi films and is meeting movie folks. He is also extending his Mumbai stay till the award ceremony on Saturday. Still,Vaidya who has acted in several television series,including The Office,and featured in a number of ads is not sure whether landing another great role will be easy. Im looking forward to something different and challenging as my next Bollywood assignment, says the actor,who fears being typecast. The danger of being typecast is something he faced in the US . Asian actors mainly get roles of comedians,techies or nerds, says the Maharashtrian,his American accent intact.

Vaidya,however,is sure of one thing: He wants to focus on acting. I had brought scripts to Mumbai much before 3 Idiots happened. Once here,I realised that the industry was not ready for such off-beat films. Now that I know the audience likes my acting,I will concentrate on that, says the actor,who has studied at the LA County High School for Art. Prodded by his mother,who once aspired to act,he has been acting in plays since he was six. Most of the plays I did were in Marathi, says Vaidya.

It was his mother who was most excited about Vaidyas bagging the role of Ramalingam. She even taught him Hindi. Little did she know that Hirani would not only ban such lessons for Vaidya but would even prohibit him from watching Hindi films. Instead,Vaidya was asked to put on weight for the sequences where Ramalingam meets his classmates after 10 years. Two months later,I had to slim down for the shoot of our younger days. When Kareena Kapoor saw me then,she couldnt recognise me, he recalls. With his wife,who is doing her PhD in the US smiling proudly,he shares that once the shoot was over in June,his priority was to look his best for his August wedding.

He has to get some sleep before catching an early flight to join the 3 Idiots team; Meenal wants to check out Bandra boutiques. But that will have to wait. Its time now to enjoy the adulation and then an autorickshaw ride back to the hotel.

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