He has been in the Hindi film industry for over two decades now, but actor Arshad Warsi says he has much more to offer and he has still not proved himself.
Before making his acting debut, Warsi served as assistant director to filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt on the 1987 film Kaash. Then, in 1996, he made his acting debut with Tere Mere Sapne.
He later featured in films such as the Munna Bhai franchise, Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet (1999), Hulchul (2004), Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? (2005), the Golmaal franchise (2006) and Ishqiya (2010).
Asked if he feels he has proved himself in Hindi cinema, Warsi told IANS here: “I have not proved myself at all. There is a lot in this box. I think there is a lot more that I can do. Sooner or later, it might happen, but every time there is a challenge when I read a script…”
On his journey in the industry, he said: “It has been good. When I started before getting into movies I was working really hard and struggling. Since the time I joined movies, till now my life has got better and better.” Warsi has Total Dhamaal (2019) and Pagalpanti (2019) in his kitty currently.
The actor, who is popular as Circuit from the Munna Bhai films, added that he has absolutely no reason to complain.
With films like Golmaal, Dhamaal and Salaam Namaste (2005), the 50-year-old has made a name for himself in the comedy genre.
What about getting typecast?
“When a comic actor does a serious role, they start looking odd… the serious films that I have done, nobody said anything… they instead said ‘you were good’. In Sehar (2005), nobody could believe it was the same guy. Thankfully I proved that I have worked everywhere,” he said.
The Jolly LLB (2013) actor added that he tries to play all his characters “very differently”.
“Problem lies when you do the same thing over and over again in every film,” he said.
Asked if there is anything else he aspires to do, he said: “I can’t think like that. I go script by script and film by film. That’s how it is. I hope somebody writes something interesting and makes me do that.”