Playing Dadi comes easy to me

Playing Dadi comes easy to me
x
Highlights

Ali Asgar has made his mark as the ever smiling, naughty Dadi loved by all in ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’. It has been more than a year since the weekend entertainer ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ has kept the nation laughing. A major contribution for the show to become such a huge hit is actor Ali Asgar, who plays Kapil’s naughty dadi in the show.

Ali Asgar has made his mark as the ever smiling, naughty Dadi loved by all in ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’

Ali Asgar as ‘Dadi’ in ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’

It has been more than a year since the weekend entertainer ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ has kept the nation laughing. A major contribution for the show to become such a huge hit is actor Ali Asgar, who plays Kapil’s naughty dadi in the show. He looks so much at ease in his character, but Ali ascertains that it was not a cake walk to begin with, “It is very easy right now... I just go on the sets, get into the costumes and take up from there, but initially it was difficult. I don’t take Dadi’s to be a comic character, but just as a character. It is not as if I have to try to do comedy as Dadi. This how the character is supposed to behave. The old lady’s principle is to live her life to the fullest, so even though she has problems she drinks, talli hoti hai, khush rehti hai, but at the same time, she is sensible and wants a grandson just like any other dadi would want to. She is no rona-dhona types and just because she has to be funny, and we wanted to make people laugh, we have made the format.”

That seems to have worked well with the audience who now look forward to Dadi’s entry in each episode, making the team think of different ways to keep the audience entertained, “Chal gaya toh chamatkar ho gaya hai and it has helped us all and the response to it has been outstanding, so every time now, we are thinking what new to offer to the audience.”

Ali is not new to dressing up as a woman on screen, “I have played female characters earlier too… in fact, I and Kapil Sharma as a Jodi won the 22 -episode series of ‘Comedy Circus’ wherein, I performed various female characters, but at the end of it, my little son asked me, ‘aap ko aur kuch aata nahi?’, and then I decided to stop playing such roles for couple of years. This was until I got ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’. As an actor, I also decided to balance it with playing a normal guy in a regular avatar for ‘Jeanie Aur Juju’, so that people know the real me. Even my wife wants to see me as Ali the actor.”

Comedy Nights is today incomplete without Dadi’s famous pappi but Ali maintains that the kiss was never scripted, “The shagun ki pappi just happened, and we kept on repeating it since it became such a big hit. Normally, it is me who gives a pappi on the cheeks to the celebs, but I try not to cross my limits when senior stars like Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Mithunda are on the sets and I kiss their hand instead. Even when Salman Khan was on the show he enjoyed thoroughly, but since,I knew about his discomfort with cross dressers I gave him a kiss on the hand but it was Amitabh Bachchan who surprised me the most by planting a kiss on my cheek!”

It is not surprising to know that Aliis flooded with acting offers, but he is planning to slow down a bit. “I am getting lot of offers, but I am taking it easy as of now… one because most of the work being offered to me is similar to what I am currently doing as Dadi and I don’t like to repeat myself as an actor and secondly ‘Jeanie aur Juju’ has just wrapped up and finally I am getting time to spend for myself. Otherwise, since September 2012 until July this year, I did not have a single day off! I have ignored my health and want to get back to a fitness regime.”

The hectic schedule, however, does come with lot of appreciation and Ali is basking in the limelight, “I got lots of love from my fans. Last year, I was in my car, stuck in a traffic jam during Ganapati Visarjan in Mumbai, when the crowd spotted me. They started calling me Juju then realised that I was also Dadi, and they made me get down from the car, and did not leave me till I did the Dadi ka dance step on the road, with them. Many even praise the clothes, that I wear as Dadi. I have worn sarees, skirts, salwar kameez, ghagra choli, frocks… all that a woman wears and now I am comfortable in almost anything. My simple Punjabi salwar kameez has become quite a hit, and I get compliments for the same,” laughs the ever affable Ali.

Show Full Article
Print Article
Next Story
More Stories
ADVERTISEMENT