Jaaved Jaaferi, in this interview with Brut, talked about breaking free from the typecast trap and the sentimental storylines on today’s reality shows.
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00:00First thing people normally remember you, oh, Dhamal, wow, Adi, you're so smart.
00:04For people like me, when you're taking up supporting roles,
00:07you don't have much of a choice and you say,
00:09I don't want to change my mind and you keep sitting for five years.
00:12Hello, I'm Javed Jafri and you're watching me on Brute.
00:15In your initial days, you mentioned that you almost got typecast as the boy who dances.
00:21Then you almost got typecast as the comedian.
00:24How do you prevent getting typecast and how do you keep reinventing yourself?
00:28It's like Hindi, there's something called Bhed Chal.
00:31Yeh chal raha hai, chalo iske bhed chalo.
00:34These are the kind of films which work, so let's make these kind of films.
00:37So it happens even with actors, you know.
00:40So like Pakshay Kumar, let's face it, for a while he was the action king, you know.
00:45And then he got into this whole Priyadarshan comedy zone and people loved him in that.
00:49But for so-called supporting actors, for lead actors who are successful,
00:54they can still manipulate projects to suit how they want their career to go.
01:01Supporting actors is different.
01:05So for people like me, when you're taking up supporting roles,
01:08you don't have much of a choice and you say,
01:10I don't want to change my mind and you keep sitting for five years, it doesn't work.
01:14You know, you're out of sight, out of mind, you go on.
01:17So I feel it's important that you keep moving, strike a balance somewhere
01:21and then if you get something which can change the game for you, great.
01:27But it's luck that if you get it or not.
01:30But you can't say, I'm not doing this, I'll wait for this.
01:35You're taking a big chance.
01:37If it happens, fantastic.
01:38If it doesn't, you know, you're wasting a lot of years going by.
01:42So this Taza Khabar, I think it comes at a very good point
01:46because this whole thing was going a little funny, funny, funny
01:49and people not taking you seriously.
01:51So this is a very dark, serious role.
01:52There's nothing funny in it.
01:54And I'm really appreciative of, you know, Bhuvan and his team
02:02and even the director thinking of me in this particular role.
02:05Being out of the box and looking at me and saying that this man can perform
02:11and he will, it's a chance.
02:13Because like you said, the image is still strong.
02:16The last thing they remember or the first thing people normally remember
02:19is, wow, Adi, you're so smart.
02:22And then to break out of that.
02:27You've been at the forefront of several talent shows.
02:31What is your take on the current crop of reality shows?
02:36Without naming anything, one incident.
02:40The dancer is not that good.
02:41His mother's story is very good.
02:43So I've come across that and a lot of this happens.
02:48And I just feel it becomes very repetitive.
02:51I see the same thing.
02:52I just see the same kind of dancing happening.
02:54Fantastic talent, no doubt about it.
02:57But now it becomes like, okay, now what new?
02:59What else?
03:00Where are we going from here?
03:02And certain things have become very...
03:07Okay, it's like a scripted, formatted thing.
03:12It's not organic.
03:14So when we did Boogie Woogie, there was no script.
03:16It was totally organic.
03:18How it flowed, how we reacted, how the people, the family.
03:22And yes, if there was a certain point, we had to highlight about
03:25a certain performer coming from somewhere.
03:28We did highlight it.
03:29But it was not like, Adi, you have to zoom in on his close-up
03:31when he cries.
03:32Keep a shot of his mother crying.
03:33So we didn't.
03:35If it just happened, it happened.