I have had a blast

Before you go on to call him the funny man from the films, he hurls at you the names of the next not-so-funny roles that he will be seen in this year. “I am an actor, not a comedian,” he insists. “Variety is the spice of life and I don’t want to miss out on any of it.”
Though in Kuch Meetha Ho Jae, the film the actor was promoting in the Capital a few days back, he plays a funny character, “a modern-day devdas, that’s how I see him. He has a lot of pain in him but he always smiles.” He plays the role of a staff member at the Gangapur airport. Having lost his family and his lover at separate incidents, he takes to drinking and escapes his own pains by making the people around him laugh.
But the laughs end here, he says. “My next film is Seher which a thriller,” his second attempt at playing the lead after the unsuccessful, Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II. Besides Seher, he will also be seen in another thriller, Chocolate by Vivek Agnihotri, Kisse Pyaar Karu, Rokda – where he gets to don some negative shades, Munnabhai - Part 2 and Yashraj Film’s Salaam Namaste this year and in Golmaal, Gopi Kishan and Kabul Express next year.
Busy than ever before, he credits his ability to work at a very fast pace in bagging the above projects. “I try to do only one film at a time and put all my energies to it. I finished Kuch Meetha Ho Jae in 28 days and Kisse Pyaar Karun in 32 days. So I know exactly how much of work I can take on to keep me busy for the whole year,” he says.
Things weren’t always so good fro him. He has a turbulent career graph so far. “Turbulent maybe from your point of view, because as far as I know, I have had a blast,” says the actor. “Maria, my wife was doing very well as a VJ so it was not a hassle at all if I was not working. All the while when people here thought, ‘Poor chap, he does not have any work’, I was touring the world meeting my friends and having a blast.”
“I had so much at that point of time that right now, my gruelling schedule of work 16 hours a day does not hurt at all.”
He maybe doing films by the dozens right now, but he assures you that he only does ‘quality acts’. “I don’t want my friends and film fraternity to be ashamed of me.”
Though he keeps no parameters and no goals for himself in his professional life, he does have a dream role. “Mrs Bachchan once told me that I should something like Al Pacino in Scarface and I think I should do something like that too,” says Warsi.
Of course, with the stars and the producers backing you, we look forward to seeing you as the next Terminator.

Published in Hindustan Times Next on April 12, 2005