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21 Years Of Hera Pheri: Paresh Rawal Reveals Reason Behind The Success Of His Character Baburao
When it comes to Paresh Rawal, the veteran actor has never failed to impress us with his varied characters in films. But, if we had to pick one of our all-time favourite role of Paresh, it would be Baburao Ganpatrao Apte from the Hera Pheri franchise. Sporting thick glasses, a vest and dhoti, the actor aced the role of the garage owner and landlord with a heart of gold.
As Priyadarshan's Hera Pheri clocks 21 years today (March 31, 2021), Paresh Rawal in a tete-a-tete with ETimes, opened up about this iconic character.
Speaking about the film, the Hungama actor shared, "It is still very fresh in our minds; we had not anticipated that it will be such a big hit. We just thought that it would be a nice and unique story. The dialogues were funny and it was entertaining. We never imagined that it would be loved and remembered in such a big way. People come and tell me that they watch the film whenever they are feeling sad; we didn't know that the film would work this way."
Paresh explained why his character of Baburao struck a chord with the audience and said, "When Priyadarshan narrated the story to me, he had said that if this character doesn't click, the story would not work. He was so assertive and confident about it and I am happy that what he said turned out to be true. Somebody even said that the character is as popular as RK Laxman's 'Common Man'. The character has that kind of trait, gait, innocence, and humour. The reason behind the success of the character of Baburao is his innocence. Comedy that emerges out of poverty is always appealing; it is almost Chaplin-ish."
The seasoned actor also shared how he got into the skin of his character and revealed, "Improvisation is a part of every actor's technique. But it has to work in that frame; you cannot overdo it. I could relate to the body language of the character. It was somewhat child-like. The dialogues, written by Neeraj Vora, also worked in its favour, plus we decided to give it a Marathi touch. Everything fell into place. We played around with the character and it was a joyride working on the film."
Hera Pheri is also worth a dekko for Baburao's fun-filled camaraderie with Raju (Akshay Kumar) and Shyam (Suniel Shetty). Talking about Akshay and Suniel as co-stars, Paresh told the daily, "Suniel Shetty and Akshay Kumar are very easy actors to work with; they don't come with excess baggage of being stars. We were all secure actors on the sets in our own ways. Nobody was concerned about screen time or stole anybody else's scenes in the film."
Since a very long time, there have been reports about Hera Pheri 3 on the cards. Reacting to this, Paresh told ETimes, "I am definitely looking forward to the third part. It must happen and it will. We don't get to see these kinds of characters and films coming more often. We should keep such franchises alive. And I feel this is the best time to do comedy and bring joy to others."
Further, on being asked if he would be all game for a spin-off with Baburao, the actor told the tabloid, "Why not? It would be interesting to put Baburao against different backdrops to see how he excels. I think it is a unique character in all aspects. He has all the qualities in him. He has an RK Laxman and Chaplin kind of characterisation."
On a related note, Paresh Rawal is reuniting with director Priyadarshan for Hungama 2. The film also stars Shilpa Shetty, Meezaan Jaffrey and Pranitha Subhash. Besides this movie, Rawal is also a part of Umesh Shukla's family entertainer Aankh Micholi.
