Paresh Rawal on roles that challenged him as an actor

MUMBAI: National award-winning actor Paresh Rawal shares an insight of what challenges him as an actor, and how a performing artist grows.

"I have been working for so long and after a point, the audience knows the kind of actor you are. Then, the drive changes for an actor. Now, I want to look for a script and play a character that challenges me. I want to push my limit and I want to ask myself, ‘yeh mujhse hoga kya'? If it challenges me then that excites me as well!" Paresh told IANS.

The veteran actor added: "I look for an opportunity where I am scared and challenged, and a character that puts me out of my comfort zone. It is the challenge that drives me to get up and go. As a professional actor, I do accept projects that are easy to do. An artist grows when he is challenged. There are various shades of emotion within emotions. Bringing that nuance is the task, is the art and an artist looks for that."

Rawal's notable films include "Woh Chhokri", "Sir", "Mohra", "Raja", "Chachi 420", "Hera Pheri" to, in the recent time, "Tiger Zinda Hai", and "Sanju".

So what was that one character that challenged the actor? " I will take more than one name. To start with, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the film ‘Sardar'. It was an iconic character and we all read about him. So I had to do it right. I also think characters like Tikku (a transgender character) from ‘Tamanna', the characters I played in ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan', ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!', in which I played double roles -- those are well-written characters but challenging. You can say those are quite against my grain. I had to work hard to get there to portray the character."

His son Aditya Rawal recently made his acting debut with the ZEE5 original film "Bamfaad" and according to Rawal senior initial films are the only opportunities to prove the potential of an actor.

"When new talent comes, initially, everyone is graceful -- as in, he or she is good as a ‘new actor'. But within two to three films, if the youngster cannot improve his skill, he or she will not be able to sustain their career. That is why talent matters. The ‘hit', ‘flop' and box office numbers are not in the hands of an actor but delivering performance is. I hope Aditya manages to do that," Paresh signed off.