I can deliver in any role: Jaaved Jaaferi

Actor, dancer and comedian Jaaved Jaaferi has primarily been associated with one of the first few ‘reality shows’ in the country, “Boogie Woogie”, and with the comic genre of cinema.
Whereas the comic stereotype is something he’s trying to break away from, “Boogie”, as he calls it, is a project he seems quite attached to. Ask him for his opinion about the umpteen reality shows on television today, and how his show stands apart, and he says, “It had soul.”
About doing roles other than that of a comedian’s, he says, “I need to do something more fun – fun in the serious way.” But considering the roles he’s done in the past, is the comic genre something he feels more comfortable with? Says Jaaved, “As an actor, my range is pretty wide.And I’m not just comfortable with any role, I deliver too, like I did in as serious a film as “Fire” or in a “Shaurya”, or then I can go the other way and do a “Dhamaal” or a “Salaam Namaste” or be a villain in “Oh Darling Yeh Hai India”. So it’s not like I only associate myself with comic films. I enjoy humour simply because I like to make people laugh. I mean, it’s a gift if you can make people laugh. But as a creative person, you like to be doing the variations. I haven’t been offered many serious roles, however. I’d love to do them. I think I can deliver, it’s no big deal.”
Being typecast as the funny guy doesn’t bother Jaaved because he says that’s how his fans want to see him. “I try to maintain a balance but you can’t always do what you want. Sometimes you do what they (the audience) want, unless you’re willing to sacrifice and be like ‘Boss, mujhe jo chahiye, main wohi karoonga’. If they want to see me being all funny, I can’t be stubborn about it. They love me like that so I say ‘ok, I’ll do this for them, and this for me, and it’s balanced then’.”
While speaking about his TV projects, he says he loves doing “kid-oriented stuff”, be it “Takeshi’s Castle” or his latest TV show “Mai Ka Lal”. Having hosted “Boogie Woogie” for almost 15 years, Jaaved says it was something that came directly from the heart. “We did it because we were dancers, we were passionate about it. So when we looked at a dancer, our respect, admiration and love showed. And we didn’t manipulate the cameras and say ‘arre yeh ro raha hai, uspar zoom in karo’ and we didn’t try to emotionally drain people.
Whatever happened on the show, it just happened. So when Naved and I would crack jokes, slap each other and bring about some humour while hosting the show, we would keep in mind ki show par bachche bhi hain, respect bhi bani rahe, kisi ke mummy-papa present hon, toh unse kaise baat karni hai, and what kind of guidance to give to the kids – it was all taken care of. It just sounded real. And that is what is missing in shows today,” he says.
The reality shows on TV these days are too “technical and gimmicky” for Jaaferi. He says, “They think bade stars aayenge and that will make the show’. For us, it was always the performer who was the star of the show. We were just the garnishing; we were there to put it all together. We were the frame and the participants were the picture. This has changed in shows today; the stars that appear on them somehow become the picture.”