Jaaved Jaaferi: 'If Boogie Woogie comes back, it'll have a huge fan following because there is already a fanbase’

Veteran Bollywood actor Jaaved Jaaferi, who has been entertaining audiences with his bang on comic-punchlines and impeccable dancing skills, will portray the character of a narrator in Disney + Hotstar's upcoming show, Escaype Live. While the trailer has created curiosity among the viewers through its appealing content, ahead of the release of Escaype Live, Jaaved Jaaferi spoke about his character, experience and other elements in the show in an exclusive conversation with Firstpost. Excerpts from the interview:

Did you observe any personalities for your character of a narrator for the show?

I have been acting since the past 38 years nearly. And before that, I was doing advertising for three, four years. So there's a lot of observation in my life which is happening. So there's a data bank within me, which has got a collection of this huge kind of people the way they walk, the way they talk and corporate heads, different people on different levels, whom I've met. So, all that is there within you. So sometimes you only need to do is, maybe just dig in and something will come out and say, maybe I can do this. I can use this guy's attitude or demeanour or his way of talking or walking or whatever.

So that is one, of course, the director, writer also have their clarity because they write the script, they have a certain perception of how this character should be, the way they have looked at it. So obviously we discuss it. So when I sat with the director and the director had a fantastic vision, his clarity of vision and the way he saw the show and how he could express this in words, where he's heading with the show. So, I think all these things really helped and that was one of the reasons why I'd pick the show because I found so much of clarity and fantastic vision that how he looked at the show and I wanted to be a part of that vision. So, it was not a lot of work, I started with him, I have my session, how we looked at this character, he was pretty clear, how Ravi Gupta, my character, what is his attitude? Where does he come from? What's his background? So all those things, some way it's important to simply be one-on-one sitting where we have the director and the actor, I think they have. So that was the process. I didn't have to do a huge amount of research because like I said, the observation in my life, they were there and I just have to tap them and connect and see if thoda yeh daal dete hai and all.

What was the reaction of your family members after watching you in a different avatar in the trailer?

Thye quite liked it because just before this, I had also done a movie called Sooryavanshi. They (Escaype Live) started shooting after the trailer of Sooryavanshi was released. So obviously it's not that the director saw me in Sooryavanshi, the director had a different thought, he had seen me in Meri Jung, so he had a picture of me from there. My family obviously are they quite love the look and the scale of the show. And they fell this is made very well.

How was the experience of shooting the show during COVID?

Yeah, it was pretty challenging because obviously we had to wait and we had to pause the shooting for a bit. You are technical problems, the COVID situation. And when you are shooting there, we were shooting in Umargam, which was about a four-hour drive from Mumbai. So the producer, who is our also the director and the writer, they're all the same and they've got their own fantastic setup in Umargam, big-budget sets and the entire, like a studio built there. So yeah, we were working 12-14 hours and whatever the time was remaining was finally you want to go and maybe do a bit of a gym or have a few meetings and eat and sleep. That's it. So there was not much time, but all the actors were focused. But whatever little time we got on set of coming together like lunch, so lunch world is great, kind of sitting in one room, sharing some home food. Somebody used to get from somewhere near the location. And that one hour off that lunch break we had. So, that was nice bonding of cast and crew. But it was pretty focused and hectic, especially for our director Siddharth.

How do you switch from one character to another for any show or other projects?

After so many years, it's part of the system now. It would probably be different for my son (Meezaan) because he just started. But doing all this for like 35-38 years, it's pretty much you know how to adapt, how to move, you do your homework, you make your notes. In your script, you write your points, what you want to do? How you want do?
Then, of course, you have your look test. How should your face look? Would you like to wear contact lenses? Would you like to wear a hairpiece or a wig? Would you like to colour something? What kind of clothes you wear? Then you work separately on how this character would walk and talk, you know, his voice. So, that's the homework you do before you start.

Since many Bollywood stars are venturing into south cinemas, do you have any plans to do the same?

Okay, actually, I've already ventured in the south. I did two movies in Malayalam. One was called Picket 43 and the other one was called Happy Sardar and I enjoyed them both. Picket 43 was a serious film, very well-made with a guy called Prithviraj (Sukumaran), who is a big star there. So, the story was about two soldiers in a remote part of Kashmir. One is a Pakistani, one is an Indian and they are two alone on opposite each other, maybe 50 meters, not even 50 meters away, 25 meters away from each other. So it was quite,  interesting doing that very, very lovely story. And it spoke a lot about harmony and love and the soldier's life and then Happy Sardar was a funny film. So, I enjoyed both totally.

What difference you find while in Bollywood and down south?

Okay. So, South has Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada. You have 4 major territories. KGF is Kannada, RRR is Telugu. I worked in Malayalam, in Malayalam, the budgets are much lower compared to say Tamil or Telugu. And they have to be very disciplined and they are. They are extremely down to earth. There's no shoshaa, the work ethic is pure and they are very fast for some reason. And the technicians are all, I think they are wonderful because they work under budget constraints and they make some really good quality stuff. I've not worked in Tamil, Telugu so I wouldn't know, I can't comment, but I would love to after what I see I've seen. I've seen RRR, I've seen Pushpa, Baahubali and of course, I saw few of Kamal Haasan sir's work. I'm a huge admirer of him. I think, for me, since I remember, he was my favorite actor because he was always experimenting and doing stuff, which was different. Getting out of the whole commercial hero mould and trying to do something different. I have like a huge fan following for Kamal Haasan sir.

Have you ever planned to bring Boogie Woogie of Kaboom again on the television?

I would love to. I think Boogie Woogie if it comes back, it'll have a huge fan following because there is already a fanbase. And then jo log hai unke bache paida hogaye, they'll tell the children, you must watch this show. We grew up watching this show. I would love to, I think it would be great, but anyway, not in our hands, it's finally the platform, the channel, and we would love to do it. I think we would love to do. And I think it would be, it can really do well if somebody brings Boogie Woogie back. So, but yeah. Takeshi's Castle also I've heard it's coming back. Let's hope. I would love to do, I'm very attached to that show. And if it does come back, I would love to be a part of it.

Escaype Live, which also stars Siddharth, Swastika Mukherjee, Plabita Borthakur, Waluscha D Souza, Ritvik Sahore, Sumedh Mudgalkar, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Jagjeet Sandhu, Rohit Chandel and others. It will stream on 20 May.

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