Arshad Warsi talks about Circuit

TRANSCRIPT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ARSHAD WARSI :

Q. Whats the difference between the making of ‘M.B.B.S.’ and ‘Lage Raho..’?
A. Last making bina kisi expectation se ki thi aur yeh making… bahut dar lag raha hain kyunki mujhse zyada logon ko expectation zyada hain. But fark toh kaafi hain actually. Fark bhi hain, nahin bhi hain. Fark isliye ki iss bar film thodi badi hain, canvas bada hain, tension zyada hain. Fark isliye nahin hain kyunki mentality wahi hain, humor hain. Magar ghabrahat zyada hain iss time pe.

Q. Ten things you liked while working on the film?
A. Working with Sanju, Raju. The whole crew. The feel, the whole thought of going to shoot Munnabhai, the reaction I get from people, The seriousness and dedication that is there on the set with the whole lot of humour and masti and all the oneliners happening on the set. My clothes that I wear, my knife that I use. Freedom that I have to improvise and have fun to do and enjoy… and the fact that this is Munnabhai.

Q. Ten things you hate?
A. Very hard to say ‘cause mahaul itna accha tha ki batana mushkil hain. Hann yeh hain ki ek ghabrahat si rehti hain ki main aaj kaam theek karoonga ya nahin. Jo logo ne part one pe dekha hain, utna log iss baar pasand karenge ki nahin. Phir yeh dar rehta hain ki pichli baar itni acchi lines thi, iss baar acchi lines rahegi ki nahi. Yeh sab cheezein mujhe dar lagta hain.

Q. First day of the shoot you had a little problem getting into Circuit’s character.
A. Mera problem kya hain ki main role karne ke baad bhool jata hoon and then I move to next role. Same thing I did with Munnabhai. Film ki, film khatam hui, bhool gaya, kaise kiya tha, kya kiya tha, completely bhool gaya. And jab part two ki baat hui, maine socha thodi si takleef hogi, thodi na kisi ki mimicry kar raha hoon. Lekin jab actual set pe gaya, tab mujhe realise hua, okay , this is the same character I am repeating, who I have never done in my life. Ab mujhe khud hi apne ko play karna hoga. Ab wahan mujhe takleef hui kyunki main bhool chuka tha maine kya kiya tha. Aur main yeh dialogue kabhie iss tareeke se kar raha hoon, kabhie uss tareeke se kar raha hoon. Aur finally Raju ne kaha yeh lijiye DVD, film dekhiye aur apne aap ki mimicry kijiye. Toh haan pehle din thoda sa confusion tha, even Sanju ko bhi confusion tha.

Q. And this was a very difficult scene to start with.
A. Haan. Jab part one aaya tha tab maine aisa socha tha ki aisa kucch scene ho jahan pe Munna aur Circuit mein problem ho lekin iss time Raju ne dala. WOh dekhne ke baad samajh mein aata hain. It is always easy working with Sanju. But I want to tell one thing about Sanju ke kabhie bhi koi aisa scene ho na jahan usse, mujhe specially personal life mein bhi but very rarely aisa koi rough scene ho jahan jaise usse mujhe thappad maarna hain, I can sense that he has to work on it and do it as an actor. Personally he doesn’t want to do it. I can never imagine Sanjay and me having a problem.

Q. How does this bonding helps in Munna Circuit chemistry?
A. It does help. Do actor jinke beech mein koi negativity nahin hain, the results are always positive. And Sanju ke saath mera yahin connection hain. Aur main yahin dekhta hoon ke Sanju ke saath main kitna bhi ghumoo, phiroo, kheloo, but main yeh kabhie bhi nahin bhoolta ke end of the day woh mera senior hain and I have to give him the respect and I think that makes the difference. Its not fake, its genuine. Its genuine respect that happens. Sanjay ke saath kaam karna bahut aasaan hota hain, takleef nahi hoti. Woh aapki line kam nahi karwata, tumko takleef nahin deta, Woh aapko intimidate nahi karta, woh aapko kabhie ehsaas nahi hone deta ke main Sanjay Dutt hoon aur aap ek chote less important actor ho. Woh apna kaam karta aur tumko apna kaam karne deta hain. Agar tum do line zyada bhi bolo toh aisa nahi hain ki ae yeh kyun bola tune. So I am very relaxed. Sanju knows what I will do, and I know how Sanju will react. When I say Bhai vinamra ke saath bolna chahiye, I knew he will ask what is Vinamra. I knew ke Sanju aisa karega.

Q. You know in some scene you don’t have the dialogue but your reaction is that deadly as what Munnna is talking?
A. I will tell you how it is. You have to be in your character all the time, throughout. Once I wear my black clothes and have a knife, I completely transform to Circuit. And I think Sanju ka bhi yahin chakkar hain.

Q. Your first encounter with songs.
A. Arre woh Shantanu, lagta hain usse apna career pasand nahi hain. I am the worst singer ever. Main jhooth bhi nahin bolta. Main happy birthday bhi nahin gaata kisi ke birthday pe. I am that frightened. Aur Raju kehta hain ki Arshad gaana gaana hain. Maine kaha main nahi gaa sakta. Gaana nahi hain, bas thoda sa dialogue hain aur wahan Shantanu ne pahoonchne ke baad bola (humming song), maine bola nahi. Aur highlight usmein ye thi ki chalo theek hain Sanju hi gayega maximum, main thoda sa idhar udhar. Sanju ne apna dialogue gaake chala gaya au baaki ka part mujhe hi karna pada. Maine kaha main kahan phas gaya. But anyways it was thanks to Shantanu and Technology.

Q. First part toh gaya. Now Raju was planning for the second part. Now what was your guessing ke kya hoga?
A. Jahan tak mera vichar hain, part two should always be better than part 1. You need to have something in the script which is beyond people's imagination and which shocks you. Kaafi chal tha, LLB, vagera chal raha tha and then one day he said Arshad film mein Gandhi rahega. I said correct. That’s the one. I completely rely on your faith. I know he cannot go wrong. Other people might think him idiotic. But I dont knew how he will weave the whole story. And mereko kahani jab sunaya. it completely moved on.

Q. Any favourite scene apart from toilet?
A. I like drunk scene, Sanjay and me when he says koi bhi gaana gaate hain toh Bapu aa jata hain. The whole scene where I can’t see Bapu and Munna tells me Bapu ko chhod de, the entire scene where is Bapu, it is fantastic.

Q. When we were shooting Lage Raho Munnabhai, the kind of crowd we got and your statement..
A. Haan. We were shooting in town. Its kind of weird. I saw this huge huge crowd and I thought what a fan following Sanju has. You know it was chaos. I thought oh what a star he is! Thats where I want to be. Next day I went to Sanju and told him, ‘Sanju I have never seen such a big crowd in my life.’ He said it is only because you and me are together as Munna and Circuit standing there. I said yeah this is it.

Q. That was a song, but in a scene, there is a dialogue, there is a crowd behind, concentrating.
A. Mujhe lagta hain yeh sab cheezein experience ke saath ho jaati hain. Tumko dimaag pe se nikaal na mangta hain ki yahan pe koi hain. Just me and my dialogue.

Q. Difference - jo pehle mein hua ismein nahi hua?
A. Pehle part mein jab bhi pack up ho jaata tha, costuem nikaal lete the, riksha pakad lete the, toh 99% wapas bula lete the ki arre yeh wapas karna hain. Yeh Part two mein nahin hua.

Q. Talk about your bike.
A. I love bikes but Maria mujhe chalane nahi deti. After lot of convincing for 5 years finally when we were shooting in Kabul, John aur mein went to the net and we browsed for bike, which bike I would like to have. Aur uske baad mein Maria se bola bas yaar shamko bas thoda sa yahan wahan, and usne haan bhi nahin bola. She said like ya but you know aur main yahan pe turant phone karke bike order kar diya.

Q. When you got bike on the set.

A. Oh that day. I hope somebody has got the pic of that. If I were a journalist, then I would have taken that pic. That pic was superb. Reclamation mein shoot kar rahe hain, aur main aaya apni bike leke. Aur sabko bithake upar neeche karke fa fu karke chala raha tha. Cut to Sanju entering with his Ferrari. Sanju ki Ferrari aur meri bike aamne sammne khadi thi, aur Munna aur Circuit aise baatein kar rahe the. Somebody should have taken the picture of that. It was amazing.

Q. What difficulty you had riding the bike on the film?
A. Baap re. Ismein kya hota tha normal aapne seedha handle rakhke bike chalaya accelerator dabake, it would go right side. Phir mujhe bataya gaya kaise chalana padega. Agar aap gaur se dekhoge mera ek haath handle hain jo main kheech raha hoon, aur doosra haath mein dhakka maar raha hoon. Aur finally for the sake of acting bike fix kar di gayi. Finally theek chalne lagi thi varna bahut difficult hota tha.

Q. How much freedom does Raju give to the actor, especially to you?
A. Raju is a very clever director. We will say that Raju aise aise karte hain, he will say that haan haan and then finally he will say that but stick to that. Par mujhe Raju ne bahut freedom diya tha. Part 1 bahut diya. Part 2 mein mujhe zaroorat hi nahin padi, it was like a cakewalk. But I remember one sequence of Sanju's, He's crying and sobbing. And this is typical Raju. Will say Kamaal ka performance diya, very good, very good. We think the take is OK. then he says OK, one more. Usmein thoda crying kam kar dena. He will push you till he gets the right shot.

Q. Songs.
A. All songs are good but maine gaya hain gaana toh mujhe ghabrahat hoti hain. Otherwise all songs are good, nice situations. Very sweet songs, very cute. Bahut acchi picturise ki.

Q. Vidhu Vinod Chopra
A. He is.. like you say you can’t understand women, same I’d say for Vidhu Vinod Chopra. You can’t understand Vinod Chopra. It’s very amazing. He is one of the people whom you can hate, and whom you can love. It’s just the question of which side of him, or what part of him do you look at. The level of honesty I have seen in Vinod Chopra, I have never seen in anybody. You can take it in a wrong side or in a positive way. If you take it in a positive way, it will help you. That’s what I love about him. First part when I got a call from him, he said Arshad I have made four calls and let me tell you - you have done extremely well. And then he told me one wonderful thing. There are two kind of acting. One there is good acting and then there is one bunch who does magic. You are one who did magic. It’s really hard to achieve. He was really really praising me. And same thing happens in part two. Pehle din shoot kiya. Phone aaya, bole kya kar rahe ho, dimaag kharab ho gaya hain? He is brutally honest. He will tell you. He will not manipulate. Jo bilkul hain waise hi batata hain. Aur yeh baat mujhe bahut acchi lagti hain. Ek aur baat hain ke he is quite a kid. One moment he is very upset and thode time ke baad he is very fine. It’s very hard to understand Vinod Chopra. It’s just the question of which point of view you see him. He's a fantastic man. And he's genius. He is really good in his work. He really knows how he wants his film, how his character would be.

Q. FIrst day.. the call.
A. Yeah the call. I wasn’t keen on doing Munnabhai. Not at all. (had thought) Kucch kaam toh nahi hain, bus Sanju ke peeche khada rehta hain and that won’t have fit me the role. I was told that this is the role. It was just coming ‘cause of politeness and respect and telling him personally that no, I won’t.. please. While I was on my way, I got a call from one tarot card friend of mine and she said that Arshad you have to do this role. I said I had nothing to, it is just a small role. Woh mere dimaag ke peeche chal raha tha. Main gaya wahan pe, script suna, aur woh deemag peeche chal raha tha. But I liked the story. I liked the sensibility. I liked Raju. So I was like not too keen. Raju se milne pahooncha. Meri sabse badi problem agar Sanju hero nahi hota na, toh main yeh nahin karta. Main soch raha tha karoon na karoon. Phir Raju ne kahani sunai, Iiked Raju. He looks like director, sensitive. Maine kaha hero kaun hain, he says Sanjay Dutt. Chal, OK. Then slowly slowly things started falling into place. Agar mereko Raju pasand nahi aata, toh main mana kar deta. Then I said I would like to do some improvisation, he said no problem. Chalo pehle toh maine naam change kiya. Khujlee naam tha pehle. Temperament iska aisa kabhi toh kabhi waisa. Iska naam kucch fuse box type ka hona chahiye, circuit breaker type. Then finally we decided on Circuit. Accha abhi chal isko kucch uniform bhi pehnate hain. Ek hi outfit pehenta hain. Eka kala kurta aur ek jeans pehenta hain. Saari investment apni sone mein daalta hain, toh gale mein sone ki chain dalta hain. Rado ki watch pehenta hain. So the character is finally settled. Then came knife. When I was trying my clothes out maine apni personal knife nikali aur camere mein rakhi aur maine kaha Raju yeh butterfly knife hain, can we use it, and he said, haan. So all fell into place. So this is how it all started. But I had no expectation. Even if it would have become big hit, mereko isse kucch fayda nahi hoga. Actor accha tha, director accha tha but mereko kucch fayda nahin hoga. Kyunki mereko karne ke liye kucch tha nahi. Phir bante bante Raju ki improvisation, meri improvisation, masti chalu hui, that for me has built the character. Aaj main kahin pe chala jaoon, jinko mera naam nahi pata, lekin Circuit pata hain. Mujhe kaafi log Circuit bulate hain.. Koi bhi film karta hoon Circuit bulate hain jo mere hisaab se bahut badi complement hain. If a person is remembered by his character, then you have really done justice to the character.

Q. Aapke career mein Circuit kaise..
A. Circuit actually got me my career back, my life back.. I got my profession back. Maine kabhi bhi nahi socha tha ki mere career ko koi bhi fayda hoga iss character se. Agar kucch hoga toh nuksaan hi hoga. Main jo kar raha tha, woh iske wajah se woh bhi nahin milega. But this film ne meri life wapas patri pe la di.

Q. There were lot of old people in this film. Most of them think that this will be there last performance. Was there something like ..
A. It was really nice. Inmein se kucch log hain jinke saath main play kiya karta tha. Bapu hain, Atmaram Bhende, Bomi. Woh log actor the aur main uss time pe choreographer tha. In log ko dekhke ek ajeeb si feeling hoti thi. Ek alag duniya thi. Aur phir achanak ek film se main inhe wapas mil raha hoon.. I just had urge to take care of them. So I did a bit of mine. The Goa shoot might have been fun. I wish I would have been there. Kyunki uske jitne saare clippings dekhe maine, I think they might have had a blast.

Q. Boman
A. Boman - I am Boman's first choreographer by the way. He was doing the play. I promise you, I saw the potential in Boman at that time. I would tell Boman why are you doing this yaar and he says nahi nahi I am enjoying doing play and all, very simple man. He was so good in that play. He would always be fantastic. He had to dance in that. He use to bring the house down. He's absolutely wonderful. He is positively the finest finest actor. His calibre is international. He can play any kind of role. In Lage Raho jab woh phone lata hain bolta hain Sanju ko lagau phone, that he is.. Aapko film banani hain, aap usse kahin bhi daal sakte hain, kucch bhi bana do, usko ladki bana do, usko villain bana do, jo banana hain bana do, he just converts himself. Ismein jo sardar ka kiya hain, man who has spoken Parsi in all his life, and he had done exceptional and that too with humour.

Q. What kind of euphoria, responses did you get after MBBS?
A. There are many things. I will say few of them. Itna craze maine kahin nahin dekha. First of all main jahan bhi jaoon, log mujhe Circuit bulate hain. There is a lady who is running a gym and she told me this - she says that she is pregnant and her delivery is getting delayed and delayed. Her due date was getting pushed. The kid was good in her stomach. She told me this and I was shocked. She saw Munnabhai, she laughed so much that she had to be taken to hospital that night and she had a baby that night. It was just crazy. Daler Mahendi calls me whenever he feels hassled, kahin bhi agar dimaag kaam nahi kar raha hain, DVD ready rehta hain, woh andar jaata hain aur bas dekhta hain. I get constantly this kind of response from almost anywhere. Sanju had a call from the party and all Sachin Tendulkar and all of them would say kya film hain yaar. There is one couple who calls me up and says thank you. I said dont thank me, I am just an actor. He says that film acts like a medicine, din mein aadha ghanta, dus minute dekho aur aapka blood level normal rehta hain. I mean this is shocking.

Q. And in awards, I think you got in Zee. Everytime you get nominated you..
A. See with awards I will tell you what happens with me. I have come to terms with this. I never get an award. I thought I deserved it in the first film. But then nothing.. I took it for granted. Zee I got. But got no other major award. But I did get appreciation, an unbelievable appreciation.

Q. What was the general reaction of kids…these kids from Vatsalya, an NGO repeat your dialogues.
A. See kids in general, the response I got from them is amazing. I believe ke bachchon ko khush karna bahut mushkil hain. Agar bachchon ne aapko pasand kar liya, aapne samajh lene ka that you are successful. Aur yeh mere saath hua. There are costume parties which are dedicated to me solely. Matlab, you have all kids dressed up as Circuit. And Vatsalya mein bhi iske alava kai saare NGOs mein gaya tha mein. Pehle toh sab yeh samajhte hain ki main unka personal dost hoon like I was born for them. Aur ek ajeeb si comfort level hain bachchon ke saath. Bachchon ka experience was outstanding. Kitne jagah se phone aaya ke you know we are having a birthday party and everybody is dressed up as a Circuit.

Tony

To submit your own articles for posting on radiosargam.com please email.