“Call me superstitious” - Paresh Rawal

Paresh Rawal is truly a versatile actor. Of late, the supremely talented actor was cast/will be seen in diverse roles -- negative (Rann), serious (Road To Sangam) and comic (Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge? and Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke) -- which only goes to show his infinite range.

"Believe me, I am nervous every time I accept a film. Will I get it (the role) right? This question crosses my mind several times," he tells me. He has two back-to-back releases in March. Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge? opens on March 5, while Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke hits the screens on March 12. He plays an unwanted guest in the former and a cop in latter, but the commonality is that he causes problems for the main characters of those films.

Ask Paresh if he has ever had an unwanted guest over and he dismisses it off. "Not yet! Actually, everyone's busy with their lives and there's hardly time to socialise or overstay at anyone's house. Also, I guess, everyone values privacy nowadays, so an unwanted guest is just not welcome," Paresh points out.

Not many are aware that Paresh never attends the mahurat ceremony (launch) of his movies. "Call me superstitious, but I've noticed that every time I attend a launch function of my movie, things start going wrong and the film ends up getting shelved. Similarly, I don't watch my movies in preview screenings because I feel they meet a sad fate at the box-office. I prefer watching movies with the audience in a cineplex," he states.