BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: PARESH RAWAL EK ZINDADIL INSAAN JO ITNE SAARE ZINDAGI SE DIYE HUVE KIRADAARO KO ZINDA KARTA HAI

There are some men who reach their destination (manzil) easily. And there are others who take their time, and look for the right ways to reach their goals, but there are some who believe that it is only their talent, their hard work and discipline that will make sure they make a mark for themselves, which cannot be erased or taken away from them. Paresh Rawal is one such man - Ali Peter John

I used to watch some good Gujarati plays when I was in college and one of the actors whose work I love was this a called, Paresh Rawal.

It was his performances that used to be the highlight of most of the plays. He later took to directing plays and soon made a place of his own.

Audiences used to go to see plays, especially for him. He was a star among the Gujaratis of Bombay and all the major cities of Gujarat.

A number of critics and journalists saw a bright future for him and some even saw a successful career for him in Hindi films.

And before it was time to welcome the 90s, Paresh Rawal had already made his entry into Hindi films and shown what he was capable of doing in any kind of films and in any kind of roles.

And by the time it was 2000, he was a sort of landmark in the films made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

And he was not just an " item" or a, "filler ", but a full -: fledged actor for whom no role was difficult to do.

It was Mahesh Bhatt who was at the peak of his career then who not only recognized the talent of Paresh, but respected his talent by giving him meaty role in his films and by recommending him to other directors, but Paresh did not need any one's recommendation, it was his talent that was his strongest recommendation.

It was this unique talent that took him places and within a matter of time, Paresh was an actor on par with other actors who were in the competition.

And he was now in a commanding position and could accept or reject roles according to standards and values and of course the price (money) he believed he and other actors like him deserved.

He came to a stage when he was seen as a leader who could fight for the deserving demands of who were called character actors.

He once made a statement saying, " what the hell is the meaning of character actors? Does it mean that actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor and other big actors like them don't have character?

" This was not an original statement. It was the veteran actor A K Hangal who had made the same statement some 40 years ago, but Paresh had made a stronger impact and soon actors like him were more respected and even paid better.

The first time Paresh was recognized was when he played Sardar Vallabbhai Patel in Ketan Mehta's "Sardar".

He won critical acclaim for his role, but there was very little applause from the audience that mattered and he decided to go in for a change in the kind of characters he played.

He took one big chance when he agreed to play a comic double role in Rajkumar Santhoshi's "Andaz Apna Apna".

The film clicked, it was declared a cult comedy film and naturally, it established Paresh as an actor who could excel in comic roles.

And that is how began the most successful phase of his career. For the next few years and even till now, Paresh is only playing comic roles with stars -: actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Suniel Shetty and no film with him in a comic role has fared badly at the box office even though the critics have torn such films to pieces.

But, according to Paresh, " who cares for what these critics say or write? I can expose all these critics one day when I have the time.

Some of them even plagiarise the language, intellectual phrases and idioms from some of the best critics from Hollywood. Jane do na bhai, apna kaam hum karen , inko apna kaam karne do. Hamaare saath jab tak janta hai, hum logo ka koi kya bigaad sakta hai ? "

It was this kind of an attitude (; some called it arrogance) that made Paresh an addict of doing anything at all to please the masses and he has continued to be a success till now, with several sequels of his original ( ? ) films made with him and his best cronies Akshay, Ajay and Suniel.

The one time he tried doing a serious role was when he played the role of Sunil Dutt in Rajkumar Hirani's " Sanju".

Frankly, one never expected a brilliant director like Rajkumar Hirani to make a mess of a film like Sanju which was a story so close to our times.

Hirani can be forgiven for all the "sins" he has committed in "Sanju" but I cannot and no one who has been an admirer of Mr. Dutt can forgive Hirani and a good actor like Paresh Rawal to make a parody of undoubtedly one of the greatest men of our times who was fortunately or unfortunately the father of Sanjay Dutt.

Paresh had his own political leanings which strongly went with the Bhartiya Janta Party. And it was perhaps for this dedication that he was conferred with the Padmashri in 2014.

And in that very year, the BJP chose him as its candidate from the Ahmedabad East Constituency and with the Modi wave sweeping across the country, Paresh also won the elections and was a faithful member of the BJP till 2019 when he took everyone in the BJP by surprise when he decided not to contest the elections in 2019.

He has however been gifted with the prestigious post of the President of the National School Of Drama which was once held by his colleague and another champion of the BJP, Anupam Kher.

There is no sign of his doing anything good for the NSD. But it is still a little early to say anything.

The same goes for Shekhar Kapur who was a surprise choice to be the director of the FTII in Pune.....

I first met Paresh soon after he had married Swaroop Sampat, a one-time winner of the Miss India Contest and an actress who had worked in some small films.

They have two grown-up sons now and when last heard of one of them was preparing to be an actor. Will the Rawal family also grow into a dynasty? Only time, my only trustee friend will tell...

AAPNE AB TAK APNI KITNE SAARE ROOP AUR RANG DIKHAAYE HAI, PARESH BHAI. AAP ABHI BHI JAWAAN HAI, AAP MEIN ABHI BHI BAHUT DUM HAI . HUM KO ABHI BHI AAPSE BAHUT SAARI UMMEEDEIN BAAKI HAI

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