Idiot on the roll

As Omi Vaidya,aka Chatur Ramalingam of 3 Idiots,buys coupon for his quota of pani puri at a Bandra eatery,the crowd collects excitedly.

As Omi Vaidya,aka Chatur Ramalingam of 3 Idiots,buys coupon 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 shout more of his dialogues from the film. Mutra Visarjan, they yell. Vaidya seems to enjoy all these attention as much as the sweet-and-sour street fare.

Before the film released,I 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 is 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 along with his wife Meenal Patel. The actor,who lives in Los Angeles,is the best-kept secret of 3 Idiots and his lines from the smashing hit have become most popular. Barely two weeks since the movie released,his portrayal of a mean and manipulative studentwho believes in mugging up his study material and talks in a foreign accent blend with South Indian twanghas already won him the nomination for Best Actor in a Comic Role at the Screen Awards.

Life changed overnight at the fag-end of 2009 for the 27-year-old. Hes naturally keen to do more Hindi films and is meeting movie folks. He is also extending his Mumbai stay till the award ceremony on Saturday while his wife,who is doing her PhD in cancer prevention,returned home yesterday.

Still,Vaidyawho has acted in several television series including The Office as well as featured in a number of adsis not sure whether landing another great role will be easy. Im looking forward to something different and challenging as my next Bollywood assignment, the actor says,who fears being typecast. The danger of being typecast is something he faced even in the US. Its very difficult to change it. Asian actors mainly get roles of comedians,techies or nerds, says the Maharashtrian,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 the industry is 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 over Vaidya bagging the role of Ramalingam. She even started teaching him Hindi to prepare him for the assignment. Little did she know that Hirani would ban not only these lessons but prohibit Vaidya from watching Hindi films. Instead,he was asked to put on weight for the shoot of the sequences when 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 smiling proudly,he shares that once the films shoot was over in June,his priority was to look his best at his August wedding.

After tucking in,Vaidya wants rest in his hotel. The following day he would be catching an early flight to join the 3 Idiots team on their cross-India promotional tour. Meenal wants to check out Bandra boutiques. But that has to wait. Its time now to enjoy the adulation and an auto-rickshaw ride back to the hotel.

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WATCH-LIST
* Mughal-e-Azam
* Padosan
* Roja
* Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
* Taare Zameen Par

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