For nearly five decades veteran Bollywood actor Asraniji tickled our funny bones with his amusing characters. In fact, Asrani is an icon for comedy/humour. Though he did some dramatic and supporting roles in many big-budgeted ventures, probably for the first time we will see Asraniji’s emotional side also in the upcoming MURARI: The Mad Gentleman.
Director Suzad Iqbal Khan has beautifully brought to the fore a new side of Asraniji on-screen with MURARI.
“When we narrated the story to him, he got excited and loved it. This is the first time Asrani ji is playing an emotional character. Though his character will add humour, you will also get to witness his emotional side in major portions of the film. But that doesn’t mean he will be seen only shedding tears. Asraniji’s character has a soft corner for Murari (played by Sanjay Singh), since he shared a great bond with Murari’s father in the film,” says the director.
He further shares the experience working with the senior actor, “It was very easy and comfortable working with Asrani ji. While Asrani ji, who has been part of biggies like R…RAJKUMAR, DHAMAAL, BOL BACHCHAN, (and not to forget his iconic character of the jailer in the cult classic SHOLAY) etc, may have the habit of shooting only 2-3 shots for a day, with MURARI he had to shoot at least 2-3 scenes a day that too with as many as 45 characters in one frame at times. So for not only us, even for Asrani ji it was a different experience. He used to be constantly on the sets, used to help the actors in giving the cue and improvising. In fact, his dedication is par excellence. He used to amend or make some additions to the script given to him. He gave a personal touch to the script, making it all the more interesting. Even at this age he is very active and energetic and that is something really splendid.”
After having us in splits for ages, looks like Asrani ji is set to touch the emotional chord now!