‘JAVED AKHTAR PAID ME THE BEST COMPLIMENT’

Actor Jaaved Jaaferi has been regaling his fans with his comic timing and dancing skills for years now with films such as Dhamaal (2007) Salaam Namaste (2005), and Singh Is Kiing (2008).

Apart from comedy, his hosting and dubbing skills won him accolades, too. Who can forget his hilarious Hindi dubbing for the Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle? However, Jaaved believes that the biggest compliment he has ever received has been from lyricist Javed Akhtar.

“I changed the format of dancing and hosting in Bollywood. From the use of Hinglish, punning on words and impersonations — lot of things were added,” says Jaaved, who hosted hit shows like Flashback and Timepass.

He says, “Javed Akhtar saab had said, ‘You’ve done to TV what Ameen Sayani (iconic radio artist) did to radio.’ After watching my movies, he even commented on my nuances. For Fire (1996), praising one of the scenes, he said, ‘You’ve expressed yourself as seasoned actors would have.’”

Jaaved’s dance show Boogie Woogie was one of the most popular shows of its time. But, his dancing prowess wasn’t explored much in films. “When I was introduced in 1985, villains never danced on screen. And even if they did, it was buffoonery. It was only Mr Ghai (Subhash Ghai) who depicted the villain as a cool but evil dude. The rest would say, ‘Villain dance nahi karega’. So, there wasn’t anything which made me go wow after that film,” he says.

PHOTO: YOGEN SHAH Jaaved Jaaferi feels his dancing skills were not explored well in Bollywood