Playing a woman comes easily to me: Jaaved Jaaferi

NEW DELHI - Actor Jaaved Jaaferi dons the garb of a woman in forthcoming comedy “Paying Guests” and says playing a woman comes easily to him.

“I have played a woman earlier too. In ‘Tehalka’, I had a single scene but in ‘Mr. Shrimati’ it was a full-fledged role and I really worked hard for it. So it wasn’t anything new for me. It came kind of easy to me,” Jaaved told IANS over telephone from Mumbai.

“I understand the body language of women very well. I know their mannerisms so it’s not so difficult for me,” he added.

A romantic comedy, “Paying Guests” is directed by Paritosh Painter. It also stars Shreyas Talpade, Ashish Chaudhary, Celina Jaitley, Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen and Sayali Bhagat.

Talking about the film’s plot, Jaaved said: “The story revolves around four friends in Bangkok who need a house and end up living as couples with me and Shreyas as women.

“In the film, I play a writer with a channel. I am frustrated since I feel I deserve much more but am not getting my due. Sayali Bhagat is the woman I’m in love with but her father is my boss who is averse to the idea.”

The movie, which is set to hit theatres June 19, is produced by Subhash Ghai. It’s after 24 years that Jaaved has teamed up with his mentor Ghai for the comedy and says he was on a nostalgic trip while doing the film.

“I was nostalgic while working in the film because my first film was with Subhash Ghai. After almost two-and-a-half decades I’m again working in his production venture. I have an emotional attachment with him. He is someone very passionate about his work,” he said.

The 49-year-old started his acting career with Ghai’s 1985 movie “Meri Jung” and he played a negative role in the movie that had Anil Kapoor and Meenakshi Sheshadri in the lead.

After “Paying Guests”, Jaaved will be seen in two more ventures of Ghai - “Hello Darling” and an untitled project.

Son of yesteryears comedian Jagdeep, Jaaved has in recent years been appreciated for his comic timing in films like “Salaam Namaste” and “Singh is Kinng”.

Asked if doing comedies was a conscious decision, he said: “It’s true that a majority of my films have been comedies. I guess people like me like that. In the industry you get branded. When I entered the industry, everyone branded me as a dancer, then when I tried to do something different, people branded me as a comic actor.

“But I don’t have any problems with that actually. I’m happy doing this, though I’m doing some serious roles in my future films as well.”

In the coming months Jaaved will be seen in Inder Kumar’s “Daddy Cool”, Ashwin Kumar’s “The Forest” and Govinda starrer “Loot”.