Paresh Rawal enjoys taking on challenges. One such task he accepted when joining Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee’s Shastry Virudh Shastry was filling Soumitra Chatterjee’s role from Soumitra Chatterjee’s Bengali film Posto as part of its Hindi remake – something Paresh Rawal decided not to watch beforehand in an interview with Hindustan Times.
Paresh recounts her thoughts: “I wasn’t eager to watch Posto at first; however, I am an ardent admirer of Soumitra Chatterjee and once you watch him perform you cannot escape his performance – he truly was a wonderful actor.”
Paresh Rawal on Shastry Virudh Shastry
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Shastry Virudh Shastry starring Neena Kulkarni, Shiv Panditt and Mimi Chakraborty released earlier this month and Paresh had an immense connection to it: “I really loved its story and found it relatable: grandparents’ relationship with their grandchildren can often be more emotional and profound than between father and son; this family entertainer is quite grounded – something you can watch with your family as there’s nothing fictional here,” says Paresh.
Paresh Rawal on doing family entertainer
Hera Pheri’s star often chooses films to appeal to families. Is he making a conscious choice to produce clean family films? “Yes, it is my conscious decision; I hate any kind of vulgar content.” During the lockdown many families were stuck inside and the kind of films released through over-the-top (OTT) made no sense…now where will families go with all of their stress? So I stay away from anything vulgar with needless abusive language as this disgusts me so much (so this content).
Working with Mimi Chakraborty and Bengali actors
Mimi Chakraborty noted in our previous conversation with Paresh Rawal that there were no issues when working together, despite their political differences. Paresh too was full of praise for Trinamool Congress leader Mimi, with him extolling her qualities: “Mimi is such an easy person to work with despite her large star status – there was no baggage attached! At first I thought she being Bengali might create some language barriers but she came prepared and it was great fun working with Bengali actors.”
Regional actors working in Bollywood has undoubtedly contributed to creating harmony within Indian cinema, according to veteran actor Anil Kapoor (68 years). To substantiate his argument he gave Konkona Sen Sharma as an example: she’s an extraordinary performer whose talents provide many learning opportunities on set; overall there’s always a very healthy environment on these sets.”
Paresh Rawal can celebrate two victories at once with his film Shastry Virudh Shastry and Aankh Micholi both making their respective debuts simultaneously. However, any claims of competition between them were quickly dispelled as Paresh asserted, “I don’t consider these releases to be competing against one another; both are meant to entertain family audiences.
Hera Pheri 3 and Welcome 3 shoot
Paresh Rawal has several highly anticipated sequels in his pipeline. From reviving his iconic role of Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in Hera Pheri 3 to appearing as Dr Ghungroo in Welcome To The Jungle 3 (Welcome 3), Paresh Rawal will have plenty of roles to keep up with.
Paresh provided fans with an update, sharing that Hera Pheri 3 will arrive sometime towards the end of 2024 and that shooting for Welcome 3 would begin in late 2017. Both films would likely release in May-June according to him, and given the anticipation, the Hera Pheri collection could see significant growth. Both projects are enormous.
Paresh also briefly addressed the possibility of another installment of the Hungama franchise after its lackluster reception to Hungama 2. “Hungama 2 was poorly made; for Hungama 3, you need an incredible story, not just using its predecessor as leverage.”
Paresh Rawal’s take on awards
Before Shastry, Paresh appeared in films such as Dear Father and Sharmaji Namkeen which earned critical acclaim, yet no award show recognition. With no regrets in mind, he says “When it comes to awards I am neither conscious or curious. Awards do not interest me; when someone like you appreciates my work that’s my reward. Even if awards no longer recognize my efforts – they now serve more as recognition rather than recompense”.
Many might already know Paresh Rawal is rarely present at award shows in Bollywood, and he cites one reason as to why: he finds award shows confusing: they require too many choices; for example if an award for best actor were up for debate, I don’t understand how one can select only one candidate; everyone deserves equal consideration.” If selecting best actor was really necessary then give each of them the same role and decide who did the best job of portraying that role; how else could anyone select who did best when each has its own distinctive style,” he suggests as possible solution to choosing who did best,” as opposed to what many shows and awards ceremonies require.”
Paresh Rawal: I have not been a part of any camp in Bollywood
At the conclusion of their conversation, an actor reflects back on their decades-long career. After appearing in over 240 films thus far, he shares what makes them proudest on this journey – working without controversy or problem and building it solely through talent and audience love. “I am most proud that everything that has come my way has happened on my terms without struggle or controversy”, he states with pride.
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