I am going to be father again: Arshad War

By Subhash K Jha

Arshad is going to be a father all over again. "Yup, the baby is due in May. I really want a girl this time. We've told our son Zeke it's his baby. He believes the new baby is going to be his property."

Arshad sports a new hair style. Is it for Bigg Boss. "No no! My hair was becoming too long and I needed to take a hair cut for my next film Goal. The director Vivek Agnihotri wanted me to keep it shorter."

Arshad's clothes are done by a Parsi lady called Sambo. And when the makers of Goal suggested another stylist Arshad put his foot down. "I know only Sambo makes me look good."

The past week Arshad has been stationed in Karjat on the outskirts of Mumbai. "I was shooting for Bigg Boss. And I also shot the promo for the third part of Munnabhai. Ralph Fiennes had come with Vinod Chopra to watch us shoot the promo. He isn't just a fine actor but also a truly humble and decent man. I haven't met anyone so modest."

Looking back on the Bigg Boss experience Arshad feels nothing but a sense of pleasure. "I took it up because it was a good concept, opportunity and money. But I never thought I'd care a hoot about those thirteen people living in the house.

Every Friday I looked forward to meeting them on eviction day. And they did too. All of us felt so good. I was never mean to them. Would I do Bigg Boss again? Yes, I would. Let's see if they've a second season. Though I'll be going a little easy on televison in the near future. All of them in there are my friends now."

Arshad did speak to the Bigg Boss inmates from a script. "Most of it was scripted. But I did improvise, specially when the contestants did something unusual…like Anupama Verma pouring her heart out at the Finale. But when these guys broke down in front of me it was traumatic…and a responsibility.

When Amit Saadh broke down I made sure a psychiatrist was sent there. Some of it was truly heart-rending…like Carol and Rahul after Ravi's eviction, sat the entire day all dressed up. I'd peep in, ask them if they were okay. I really felt for the Bigg Boss. I could see their state of mind. They were messed up."

And did Arshad Warsi actually get paid Rs 90 lakhs for hosting Bigg Boss? Arshad smiles. "If you're talking about just the Finale then that's rubbish. But if you're asking me about the sum paid for the entire season of Bigg Boss, then it's a lot more money …More importantly I got a lot of compliments for Bigg Boss. But I'm still not comfortable with compliments."