Jaaved Jaaferi: I try and avoid overtly sexual comedies

Actor Jaaved Jaaferi has tried his hand at different film genres, but comedy remains a space which the audience loves him in. The Dhamaal franchise, Singh Is Kinng (2008) and now Coolie No 1, are some of the light-hearted films he’s been a part of over the years.

Making people laugh is a tough job, he agrees, but adds, “It’s not one person’s job in a film. The writer and director are there, it’s a combined effort. You can only go a certain amount above a script. If the script itself isn’t good, or doesn’t have the punch, how much can you take it ahead? All of this contributes to making something funny.”

There are different sub-genres within comedy, he explains. And one of them, which he’s sure he wants to avoid, is sex comedies.

“I try and avoid overtly sexual comedies, especially in the public space. When doing stand up, you may slightly cross a certain line, use certain words and topics which are not universal. There also, I restrict myself and don’t engage in profanities too much, maybe just a few words here and there,” he maintains.

Elaborating on why he feels this year, the 57-year-old says it’s a very different space when it comes to movies in a market like India.

“Here, the mass audience is what you call the family audience. I’d not go very sexual even in my roles and characters which I play. Though the OTT space has become daring, I am not comfortable so I don’t do it. To each his own,” adds Jaaferi, who plays a South Indian character in Coolie No 1, which he claims he has never played before on screen.

The actor also admits that on couple of occasions, he did sign some films, only to realise later that some aspects of the project, like vulgar content, made him uncomfortable.

“Normally you now read the script. 20 years ago, maybe, we didn’t have a bound script in hand as such. They used to sometimes give scenes on sets. I remember one or two which went overtly vulgar. I used to say, ‘I’m not very comfortable, can we just shift it or make it something like this’. Today, we have scripts so we can easily read and discern,” he concludes.

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