- By Aarushi Raina
- Sun, 02 Nov 2025 05:22 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Paresh Rawal has delivered some phenomenal performances and portrayed a wide range of roles, but his iconic character Baburao from Hera Pheri gained immense popularity. He has appeared in acclaimed films such as Andaz Apna Apna, Bhagam Bhag, Judaai, Vaastav, Tiger Zinda Hai and others. Yet, his most popular role remains that of Baburao in the Hera Pheri franchise. Paresh recently reflected on how Baburao’s popularity has often overshadowed many of his other acclaimed performances throughout his career. He expressed his disappointment, admitting that he has grown bored with people keeping churning out the same thing.
During a conversation on Raj Shamani’s podcast, Paresh Rawal opened up about how the success of Baburao's character has limited people's perception of his versatility as an actor.
Revisiting his earlier comments from an interview, Paresh Rawal shared that he sometimes feels trapped by the success of his Hera Pheri character. The actor shared, "What happens is that just to please people, you keep churning out the same thing. When Raju Hirani made Munnabhai MBBS, the same characters were seen in different backdrops, and people enjoyed watching that. When you have huge characters with a goodwill of 500 crores, why don’t you take a risk and fly? Why are you stagnant? My contention was to do the character in different ways because we have an audience for it. If you give up your own advantage, what’s the point? We should not just keep doing the same thing. Baburao’s role dominates over many other good characters I have played; it is more affable.”
Revealing how Hera Pheri character has overshadowed his other work, and left him disheartened, Paresh stated, "Baburao’s role dominates over many other good characters I have played. I’m told Baburao is more popular than RK Laxman! I feel bad when intelligent people churn out the same thing. I’m bored because of this. The character has tremendous scope — you’ll believe everything Baburao says."
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Reflecting on the continued demand for Baburao-like characters, Paresh revealed that he has been offered several roles modelled on the same but he refused to imitate his own creation. The veteran actor added, “I have always said no to playing caricatures of Baburao. The demand keeps coming; everybody wants to cash in on it. Legally, it’s Firoz Nadiadwala’s property, so I cannot play the character legally in any other person’s film, so it’s a virtue out of helplessness.”
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Paresh Rawal will soon return as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in the upcoming instalment of the Hera Pheri franchise. In Hera Pheri 3, he will be reuniting with Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty as Raju and Shyam and director Priyadarshan. Following his brief exit from the project due to creative differences, the actor confirmed that he has now rejoined the cast, leaving fans excited for the trio's much-awaited comeback.
Meanwhile, Paresh is basking in the success of The Taj Story. Directed by Tushar Amrish Goel, the film has received a positive response at the box office despite facing controversy over its storyline.