Jaaved Jaaferi was last seen on screen in David Dhawan’s remake of his 1995 comedy film, Coolie No 1, alongside Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal and Shikha Talsania. Now, the film is set to have its TV premiere on April 25 on Zee Cinema.
In an exclusive conversation with Spotboye, the actor talks about the apt timing of the premiere, working with two generations of artists from three families, his son Meezaan and his upcoming line up. Read excerpts from the interview:
With the country under partial or complete lockdown at the moment, do you feel that the timing of the TV premiere of Coolie No 1 is apt?
I think so because Zee being a masys channel, it must have a penetration of at least 300-500 million viewership. This is a film for that kind of mainstream mass Indian audience. It's a time pass, good entertainment masala film, suited for that kind of viewing. So, I think this lockdown is a good time for it to arrive.
For the film, you stepped into Sadashiv Amrapukar’s shoes from the original. How was your experience?
I won't call it stepping into his shoes as whatever I did in this film was different from what Sadashiv sir did in the original. I didn't take his character as a reference. Even the dialogues were different as I changed my character from Jai Kishan to Jackson. And the experience was great as I love David bhai as a director as well as a person. The cast was also fabulous as it had seasoned actors like Paresh Bhai, Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever bhai and Manoj Joshi as well as fresh talents like Sara and Varun. Sara actually went to school with my children, so I knew her from before.
Talking about the young talents, you must have had a very unique experience as you get to work with three actors who are kids of people you have already worked with before in your career—Varun and David Dhawan, Sara and Saif Ali Khan and Shikha and Tiku Talsania.
It was quite a unique gathering for me. It felt good but sometimes I also felt old. (Laughs) Shikha has a little bit of resemblance to Tiku bhai and Sara reminds me of Amrita Singh quite a lot. Varun has a bit of his dad and his mom. He is a very intuitive and improv kind of an actor who works very hard and is always laser focussed on what is going on. With his dad helming the film, he took the liberty of giving some suggestions. It was quite lovely and funny watching David bhai telling him at times, “45 filmein kar chuka hun, mujhe mat sikha.”
You are known for you dance and so is Varun. Did you both have any dance sessions together while working on the film?
No, because I didn't dance in the film and off camera, it was a very hectic schedule, so we hardly had any time to go and party as such. In the movie, I did a small bit though in the song Teri Bhabhi.
Your son Meezaan is all set to carry forward your legacy as a comic actor with Priyadarshan’s Hungama 2. Do you feel proud that he is following in your footsteps?
I don’t know why people associate me with comedy only. I started as a villain, then did comedy and even played serious supporting roles. Even Meezaan was launched in a very serious role in Malaal. But it’s good that he is starting with comedy with a master of situational comedy himself, Priyadarshan. So, I am looking forward to it. He is a hard-working boy, with a very good voice and a good personality. I feel he has got the ingredients to be a good actor and a star as well. I believe, an actor is a person good at his craft, while a star has the charisma and x factor that appeal to the masses. When you combine that you get a star actor like Mr Amitabh Bachchan and Meezaan wants to be a star actor.
Is there any collaboration on the card for the father-son duo?
As an actor I would love to, so if something good comes up, than I am game.
You worked with Sara in Coolie No 1 and then right after, you are working with Saif in Bhoot Police. Did Saif ask you about his daughter like a doting father?
I have worked with Saif in multiple films including Salaam Namaste, Ta Ra Rum Pum and Roadside Romeo, and I love him. I think he is a very cool and good actor. If it wasn’t for his reactions in Salaam Namaste, my character wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. So, I am very fond of him. When we started Bhoot Police, I told him that Sara is very hard working. Although, talking about kids made us feel kind of old. But he is a pretty cool dad and doesn’t interfere much in his daughter’s career.
You seem to have a very interesting line up in the coming years…
I am in Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif’s Sooryavanshi, after that I have Bhoot Police and a Netflix film called Jaadugar and that should come by October-November this year. In Bhoot Police, I play a no-nonsense cop, who is not funny as such but certain things around him become funny. I have one day of shoot and a song left for that. I have a web series for Hotstar called Escape Lives and that is a kickass project and I also have another web series for Amazon, that should also come around October-November.
Image source: Instagram/coolieno1_thefilm, SpotboyE