Iqbal hero, Shreyas Talpade who won loads of appreciation for his awe inspiring role, tell on the set stories of ‘Iqbal’. He says preparing for his role was a physical as well as emotional challenge.

Shreyas had never dreamt that Iqbal would be such a success. He use to entirely engross himself in the preparations for his role like pace-bowling practice in the mornings, spending time with the buffaloes, sign-language sessions and getting trained to capture the grace and aggression of bowling.

If this is nothing to some, Shreyas also went to extreme emotional challenge for he had to leave his newly wedded wife behind for a two-month shoot. Leaving her behind always played on his mind. Ultimately his wife, Deepti came to his rescue by coming on the sets for a week. (more…)

Versatile actor Paresh Rawal is fed up doing mostly comic roles and want filmmakers to offer him serious roles. He is also upset with the poor state of comedy in Bollywood and thinks it is heading towards doom.

You have yet another comic release coming up.

I have just returned from shooting for Ahmed Khan's 'Fool and Final', which is another caper. I'm seriously fed up. I won't touch anything dubious. But 'Malamaal Weekly' was enjoyable. The flavour is not farcical. It's not just a comedy, or a family film or a thriller. The pleasure of working with Omji (Om Puri) in an entire film is rare. It gave me a chance to rejuvenate myself as an actor. I am his fan. It's very rare to come across actors who aren't selfish.

But your director, Priyadarshan said there was healthy rivalry between you and Om?

Oh yes, it was great fun improvising between the two of us, and to see who would get the last word in. There are only a few people in the film industry that I admire as actors and human beings. Omji is one of them. He is such a sweetheart. (more…)