Arshad Warsi says he was replaced from a recent project without his knowledge, was relieved as makers were toxic: ‘I felt galti kar di’

“I am happy people are accepting me in a plethora of roles… they don’t just see me as a comedian. As much as I love it, I have worked hard to do other roles as well, and people are seeing that finally,” says Arshad, who has won hearts with has stellar performance as a cop in psychological thriller web series, Asur 2.

 

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He says, “You work so hard and you just want people to appreciate you, and when that happens, it’s the best feeling. What I am more kicked about is that I do comedy and people say I am superb. And then they see me do serious roles and they say damn good acting. For me, this is a high. Both my diametrically opposite sides are being appreciated now.”

However, this is not the first time the actor went against his image. The critically-acclaimed Seher starred him as a cop who challenged an underworld don. “Before I did Seher, I was only doing comedy. But in Seher, I didn’t even smile. It was a serious role, it was dramatic and had action. I even asked my director Kabeer (Kaushik) if he was sure that he wanted me to do it, because I have an image as a comedy actor. That was a first for me. I knew I could do it, but would people accept me? But people accepted me in Seher.”

“Jolly is a serious role for me, but I still got an award for best actor in a comic role. I was surprised because it was not even a funny film. Such things happen and I don’t know what to do. I hope I don’t get an award as best actor in a comic role for Asur (chuckles) that would be really too much. Thankfully people accept me in everything. I think I just have to play a girl now, wear a saree and do a ‘Kate Nahin Katte’, and people will say ‘yeh heroine ka kaam bhi acchha karta hai’.”

 

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Arshad has won critical acclaim as for his acting chops however he says he’s being rediscovered only now with the adevent of OTT. He says he’s now getting more to chew on such roles because of OTT. “With OTT the serious content has suddenly gotten a platform and thankfully I have the best of both worlds — I am comfortable with comedy and I am comfortable with drama. Asur did that for me.”

Arshad started his career as a dancer, he choreographed a song in Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993) before he became an actor. Why have we not seen him dance in movies ever? “I don’t get such characters at all, I don’t get songs. Whatever little bit I have got, I have done it, but I cannot force it. I would love to dance but I have to see what my characters need. That is more important for me to do than doing what I like. I’ll do what my character requires from me, if my character is a bad dancer, I’ll do bad dancing.”

As much as Arshad’s performances have been appreciated, he is one of the few actors in his age bracket who have been doing age-appropriate roles. Arshad says that before he signs a project, he enquirers how old the woman paired opposite to him is, because a big age difference is “visually jarring” for him.

 

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He says, “I think it is important for me. It’s hard when you see an older man with a younger girl. It feels a bit weird. Unless you are as good looking and young as Shah Rukh (Khan). He can do anything, look at how good looking he is; it is another story all together. How do I explain this?”

“There is a certain age which a woman passes where she is not a girl anymore, she’s a lady, a woman. Then the age factor is not that much of a problem. There is a line, how do I explain, if there is a 40-year-old man doing a film with a 20-year-old, it’s going to look weird, but if the woman is 30 it is fine. There is this little fine line that one has to understand. (A big age gap) jars visually. Like for me, I always ask how old is the female actor I am working with. I generally ask because I know if she is going to be 25 then it will not look nice,” the 55-year-old actor adds.

In a recent interview Arshad had revealed that there have been instances where he was replaced in projects at the last minute. When asked if he ever gets bitter about it, he says, “Let me be honest. I have accepted it but it’s not made me bitter because I always look at that brighter side of things. I always feel it is better this way.”

Arshad then revealed that the same happened with him recently too. “There is a film, which I was replaced recently. Before I was replaced I was told that I wouldn’t be happy in this unit. I need to be happy where I am working, there should be a good vibe where you’re working. There should be people laughing, people not abusing anybody or hating anybody. I don’t like negativity. This place, I was told that there is a lot of hierarchy, ‘I am big, you’re small’ sort of thing go on, so when I took it I kept feeling ‘galti kar do yeh picture ke li (I did a mistake taking this up)’. However, I was committed, and I’ll just do my job. And then, I was replaced without my knowledge. A part of me said that this is what God wanted, ‘thank you, you just saved me’. I was saved from something worse that was going to happen, maybe I would end up having a fight with the makers. I feel I have been saved from a bigger catastrophe.”

“But yes this happens, it’s been happening to me forever. I have accepted it and moved on. I don’t mind it because it is not just in our industry, it is how the world works — a doctor’s kid will be a doctor. As long as I still have work, I am busy doing films, it’s perfectly fine,” Arshad concludes.