Arshad Warsi is one of the most prolific actors in Bollywood today, having successfully proved his versatility over the years. The actor has been part of several hit films such as the Munnabhai franchise and is currently earning accolades for his work in the web series Asur. As part of the promotions for the second season of the web series, Arshad Warsi reflected on his journey as an actor and also spoke about the workings of the industry to Siddharth Kannan. As part of the conversation, Arshad Warsi spoke about actors who have come across as “insecure” while working on certain projects. The actor also confessed that some actors have demanded that Arshad Warsi's content be “tamed down”, lest they should be upstaged.
“That's why no one acts with me. Most people don't,"Arshad Warsi said. He also spoke about actors who were confident in their own skin. "I know Sanju [Sanjay Dutt] is chilled out. I know Salman Khan doesn't care." He also confessed that the iconic role of Circuit from Munnabhai MBBS did not look promising on paper and that he did the film because he knew Sanjay Dutt would “let me do my own thing,". He also said that he has also been removed from several projects due to the insistence of the lead actors but refused to divulge more details.
On being asked about Akshay Kumar with whom Arshad Warsi worked recently in Bachchan Pandey, he said, “He did not have an issue and I did not have a great role [in the movie] anyway.” If you think you are missing a link here, let us provide you with some context. In 2017, Akshay Kumar played the lead role in Jolly LLB 2, the sequel to the 2013 hit film Jolly LLB that starred Arshad Warsi in the lead role.
At the time, Arshad Warsi was quoted as saying that he was replaced by a "bigger movie star" as the studio wanted it that way. However, later the actor said that he had no issues with being replaced and was happy for Akshay Kumar. "Don't put salt on my wounds. Jokes apart, I am very happy for Akshay. I am sure he and the team have done a great job. He and I keep talking about it. In fact, I am even promoting the film in my own way. I am yet to watch it but I am really excited about its release," he was quoted as saying by the PTI. He even went on to praise Akshay Kumar for his performance in the legal drama.
Arshad Warsi is seen alongside Barun Sobti and Riddhi Dogra in Asur 2, which is a murder mystery web series.