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Badiya Hai: Aamir Khan and Paresh Rawal

Like Aamir Khan, Paresh Rawal believes in getting into the skin of his screen persona with a great deal of preparation to look the character. For his latest film Mumbai Meri Jaan, Rawal had the Taare Zameen Par director singling him out for his performance.

It is learnt that a special screening of the UTV film was held a few days ago. Among the special guests at the preview was Aamir who was extremely touched by Paresh's performance and called him to tell him what a delight it was to watch him on screen.

Critical take

Says Paresh, "I was not present for the screening due to my shooting commitments. But I heard about the reactions at the preview. The next morning I was taken by surprise when Aamir called. He told me he loved me in the film. We chatted for a while and spoke about Mumbai Meri Jaan.

Aamir always speaks his mind and always makes a critical assessment. So his saying that I was good means a lot. There were several other film folk at the screening. Their word-of-mouth can help the film."

Mumbai Meri Jaan, directed by Nishikant Kamat (who made the much-acclaimed Marathi film Dombivli Fast) is set in the backdrop of the Mumbai serial train blasts.

Weight loss

Paresh also shed oodles of weight for the film. And is determined to maintain his weight, "As actors we do all kinds of roles, so I thought why not even do a physical change for this. I lost over 10 kilos and even sport a moustache for my role as a cop. I used to jog at Juhu beach regularly and even consulted dietician Dr Sarita Dawre for my weight loss programme."

Mumbai Meri Jaan, which releases later this month, explores the impact of the train blasts on people from different walks of life. The cast of the film includes R Madhavan, Soha Ali Khan, Irrfan Khan and Kay Kay Menon.