Jaaved Jaaferi loves children. As long as they're someone else's, he quickly adds tongue-in-cheek
Jaaved Jaaferi loves children. "As long as they're someone else's," he quickly adds tongue-in-cheek. Well, his association with children goes back a long way. He's a regular voiceover on children's channels (heard his sarcy commentary on Takeshi's Castle?) and plays judge on the evergreen teen reality dance show Boogie Woogie and now he's lent his voice to a children's audio book, Super Hathaman for the Karadi Tales series. CS gets Javed to give some funny takes:u00a0u00a0
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WHO: Actor Jaaved Jaaferi
WHAT: Talking about humour and children
WHERE: At his residence |
Heads or tales?There are certain projects that I undertake, just for the sheer joy of doing them. Super Hathaman is one such project. When I heard the stories, I really liked them and felt that I wanted to tell them to kids. Earlier we had books like Panchatantra, Chandamama, Aesop's Fables that were very popular with kids and helped in propagating good values in a fun way. But today, a lot of children's entertainment is tarnished with violence and obscenities. When I did Roadside Romeo, I thought it was cute and I liked the story. I would never lend my voice to anything that I don't stand for.
All bookedPeople say that audio books are encouraging kids to stop reading, and that's a fair argument, but I feel that anything that helps you gain knowledge is good. Reading has its own charm but then again that involves cutting trees. Some of the other things I find humour in are politics and children. I find most children innocently funny yet endearing. I completely love You Said It by Laxman because it is always situational. It's the kind of humour that provokes you to think. Then there is stuff like Tom and Jerry that doesn't make you think, but is still funny.
My funny boneHumour for me is an outlet, a way of unwinding and de-stressing. I think comedy films are doing really well because there is so much of stress around. Having said that, I also feel that a lot of crap is being shelled out today in the name of humour. When I played Jaggu in Salaam Namaste, I wasn't expecting it to do so well. But the 'egjhactly' and 'good mornings' lingo has become a cult. The character stemmed from my observation of people. I picked someone's body language, aped someone else's style of speaking etc and bingo, my character was a hit! However, I equally enjoy doing serious roles. I enjoyed acting in Deepa Mehta's Fire and the upcoming The Forest. As an actor and I want to broaden my boundaries and give the audience films that they would enjoy watching!
