"Boogie Woogie has maintained its honesty and rawness" Jaaved Jaaferi

Javed Jaffrey is a name that needs no introduction but it definitely needs a correction. The man himself does the honours. "Often, people spell my name wrong. The correct name is 'Jaaved Jaaferi" says the actor. This interview isn't all about rectifications. Here Jaaved speaks about his path breaking show Boogie Woogie, films and more in an exclusive chat with Mayur Lookhar. Boogie Woogie is currently seeing competition between housewives. A few of them say that the judges have so far been very lenient. Do the judges have a soft corner for the mummies? We judges are lenient across the board. Not just with one or two but all the contestants. We can't judge these ladies like a 20-25 year-old professional dancer. Also, most of these women have probably never trained in their lives. If we were to call to straight then, perhaps, we would be left with none in the other round. Boogie.. is set to go international. Was that the only thing left uncovered by the show? There's a lot more to be achieved. We want to go international in a much bigger way. What you are seeing now is just the 10 per cent of it. Often ringing in and rewarding talent from abroad does raise many brows. Critics say that you ignore your own people (Indians) to feed outsiders? If one is going to label it as an Indian show then in that case, Indians all over the world are eligible to take part in it. Citizenship is an altogether different matter. Wherever these people may live, Indian music and culture is something they can they identify themselves with. Though Boogie Woogie is the no.1 dance show across the tube, the celebrity dance shows have become popular with the masses. How do you intend to kill the competition? They are celebrity dance shows - celebrities who can't dance. Our show is a pure dance show. These celebrity shows have a lot of glamour, money but we don't work in that way. For 11 years, our show has maintained its honestly and rawness. We are here to promote genuine talent. Is it fair to say that Boogie Woogie is no longer a show but an industry within itself which provides an income to those living on the streets? It's just not Boogie, but the entire television industry which has grown large. It now provides jobs to millions of people, who earlier had just one medium for employment i.e. films. The phenomenal growth of TV has really opened a basket of opportunities for the talented people. If we can keep providing jobs then it's really great. With due respect to all the participants, but aren't you judges the real heroes of the show? Naved, Ravi and I are the constants. The contestants and the celebrity are the variables. The three of us have been here for 11 years; naturally the people will be associated with the constants. We are the catalysts that keep the show going but we can't deliver the good every time. The ingredients or variables, which come in form of children, moms, look-alikes, are the ones that contribute to its success. India has surplus talent, but isn't most of it going unutilized? It's getting better. This depends upon demand and supply of the society. If dance is popular with the society then people will take up to dancing schools. The rise in demand has led to sprouting of many dancing schools and institutions. But is dancing a safe bet as a career for a middle class youth? Not exactly! The scenario is much better especially with a lot of corporate shows and events taking place. But people still want to indulge into freestyle Bollywood dancing. Not many are keen on the classical dance. That's a phenomenon occurring across the globe. However, in abroad people still respect their culture. For instance, you'll still find a large audience for ballet. In our culture, it's all about Bollywood. Which are the films that you doing now? I've got quite a few. There's Samar Khan's Shaurya, Ashwin Kumar's English film The Forest. I'm playing a serious character in both of them. Then I have 8 by 10 with Akshay Kumar and there's one more film called Singh is King which is an out and out comedy. You stared your film career in 1985 but you've always been in and out of the industry? I worked in films from '85 to'93 and then took a break simply because I wasn't deriving satisfaction out of it. So, I moved on to television and it is here where my career hit off. I did Flashback and Timex Timepass for Channel V. It was from here that the people got to see the funny side of me. They were truly original shows that broke ground on television. The humour what you see on television today is just an extension of what I did. I returned to films in 1996 but then went into my shell again. It was only after the success of Salaam Namaste that people look upon me as one who can hold a film on its own. You're a dancer, actor and a comedian. Despite being multi-talented isn't Jaaved still an underachiever? I've always looked upon myself as just an actor who simply wants to entertain. Where I have lagged behind is in terms of marketing and PR aspect of an actor. I was never savvy at it. But I've hired people who now look after such interests. You made Takeshi's Castle a legend in India. But there was a time when you were replaced by Laughter Challenge guys which the viewers just didn't like. Did that irk you? Firstly, I wasn't replaced but I took a break. These people just couldn't connect to the show. I had returned to Takeshi but I'm out of it again. I don't think new episodes have been canned. I'm unlikely to return to it as I'm occupied with movies. That's my top priority now. Is Jaaved satisfied with life? A human can never be satisfied. It's not always about monetary gain for me. John Frankenheimer, director of The Horsemen, made an interesting comment to my father, He said that India is a poor country yet a poor man shells out few portion of his income to watch a film. This remark had a great effect on me. As an actor, I feel it's my responsibility to give a poor man his full value for money when he watches my film. If I can do that every time, then I'll be a satisfied person.