  Pehchaan kaun: Rajpal Yadav (left), who has studied the looks and mannerisms of Abu Salem (right), has apparently got a similar haircut and even changed the way he dresses, for the performanceKya aap mere ko pehchante hain? Main hoon media ka chikna, aapka Babbu Salem, laughs Rajpal Yadav, easily one of Bollywoods busiest and leading comedians.
The actor is busy practicing for a 20-minute skit, scripted by Sanjay Chel, who also scripted and wrote the dialogues of the films, Rangeela and Khubsoorat.
Rajpal is excited about doing a spoof on Abu Salem in a play called, Babbu Salam Namaste, which will be premiered on December 1 at Ravindra Natya Mandir on the eve of World Aids Day.
Around 1,000 HIV-affected children will be a part of this event called Masti Express, presented by Aditya Motwani of Percept DMark events, which will have complimentary performances by 80 TV, film, theatre artists and playback singers.
One of the artistes told Mid Day, Rajpal, who is said to be a perfectionist, has studied the looks and mannerisms of the don. He apparently got a similar haircut and even changed the way he dresses for the performance.
After Rajpal was selected for the lead, he religiously started following the news channels. Luckily, he heard one of the old Salem tapes, which had the dons voice, which gave him a clue of how the don spoke, says the director Ashok Pandit.
But Yadav denied that there was any similarity between the lead character and Abu Salem, Im just playing a character, if it reflects the mannerisms or seems to be based on the life of any living person, its purely coincidental. I love children and the skit will be performed for the HIV-affected kids. I hope to have them smiling throughout the performance, says Yadav.
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