Happy Birthday Paresh Rawal: 5 times the actor tickled our funny bone

Paresh Rawal, the actor for all seasons, turn 68 today. Whether it is comedy, slice of life dramas or serious roles, the sexagenarian has shone through all genres, yet tickling our funny bones remains his forte, something that he has been doing for decades now. On his birthday today, let's revisit his iconic characters that left a smile on our face. Time for a binge watch maybe?

"Teja main hoon, mark idhar hai". Who can forget the iconic dialogues of this classic comedy that saw Paresh essay the dual role of uptight businessman Ram Gopal Bajaj and his gangster brother Shyam Gopal Bajaj, aka Teja. Co-starring Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and Shakti Kapoor, the movie surprisingly, did not fare well at the BO when it came out in 1994. However, the flick has achieved a cult status over the years, going down as one of the best comedies ever made in Bollywood.

As the mumbling, alcoholic landlord Baburao Ganpatrao Apte (Babu Bhaiya), Paresh Rawal played the lead alongside considerably younger actors like Suniel Shetty and Akshay Kumar. As the three of them hatch a plan to double cross a kidnapper and rescue a little girl in return, their plan as expected, goes terribly awry, landing them in soup. The movie, which came out with a sequel in 2006, is now being renewed for a third franchise, and after a long of back and forth, it seems like the original cast is set to reprise their roles. (Thank God for that!)

In this mad Priyadarshan comedy, Paresh stars as Radhe Shyam Tiwari, a millionaire businessman who decides to move to the city with his wife. However, they soon get embroiled in mistaken identities as a street smart chap tries to woo a girl, who he thinks is his daughter! On the other hand, since Radhe Shyam Tiwari's wife and the girl are both named Anjali, it leads to more chaos and misunderstandings. Co-starring Akshaye Khanna, Aftab and Rimi Sen.

This underrated gem is still undiscovered by many, even though it remains one of Priyadarshan's best works. Boasting of an ensemble cast, including the likes of late Om Puri, Asrani, Rajpal Yadav, Riteish Deshmukh and others, the movie is about an alcoholic winning a huge lottery, but dying soon after, leading to a mad rush amongst villagers to get hold of the money. Rawal stars as Lilaram, the buck tooth villager, who serves as a liason between the lottery officer and the village, and the first man to learn about the unclaimed amount.

In one of the first experiments on screen, Paresh Rawal took on the titular role of this Rishi Kapoor posthumous release. However, Rawal did not replace Rishi, but merely filled in for the scenes that he could not shoot owing to his demise. Hence, what appeared on screen was the sheer delight of watching two stalwarts essaying the same role. Even though Rawal had big shoes to fill, he slipped into Sharma Ji's character with a heartfelt honesty. Pure and full of love, this slice of life drama has its heart in the right place and is a must watch.