It’s a’ Tie’ in selecting Paresh Rawal’s milestone perrmances! Paresh Rawal’s career is like a precious necklace studded with milestones. In a career spanning three decades he has given numerous performances which are outstanding and each a milestone in its place. Since it’s a trend to select the best among the most, after a lot of pondering, I have come to a tie for the best slot because it’s difficult to grade the Best Performance Between Paresh Rawal’s sensitive act in Mahesh Bhatt’s Tamanna (1997) and his commendable hilarious act in Priyadarshan’s Hera Pheri. Both the performances are pure Gold! In Mahesh Bhatt’s Tamanna (1997), Paresh Rawal has immortalized himself as Tikku, the transgender, who as eunuch for the first time on Indian screen is sensitive and lovable. What makes Paresh outstanding in the role is that he not only gels into the character fabulously but his voice modulation is admirable. As the illiterate Marathi landlord Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, Paresh Rawal is stupendous. His typical Marathi style dhoti and high number glasses give an extra edge to his buffoonery. The highpoint of Baburao’s character is his innocence, foolishness and his absent minded attitude. Despite being a Gujarati Paresh Rawal deserves kudos for speaking the Marathi laden broken Hindi accent so effortlessly. His popular one line -'Yeh Baburao ka style hai', involuntarily invokes peals of laughter! In nut shell, Paresh Rawal shall always be remembered in the annals of Indian Cinema; particularly his act in Hera Pheri will go as the Top 10 Most Memorable Comedies in the history Indian Cinema.
Paresh Rawal was a naughty boy who entertained his classmates As a child Paresh Rawal was a naughty boy and poked fun in the class and entertained his classmates. He had an in-born talent which was recognized by his school principal Induben Patel, Principal of Lion’s Juhu School, Mumbai and instead of thrashing or scolding young Paresh for his silly antics, she encouraged him and advised him to focus in acting. She adored Paresh and told him that he can manage his studies but he should explore his god gifted talent in acting. Thus at the age of 11 years Paresh decided to become an actor and pumped all his energy into grooming his art through school stage and drama. At college too Paresh Rawal’s principal encouraged him to pursue acting Paresh Rawal did his graduation in Commerce and Economics in 1974 from Mumbai’s famous Narsee Monjee College. He remains indebted to his college principle U.R. Kohil, who gave Paresh complete freedom to focus all his attention on acting hence Paresh was mostly busy in intercollegiate drama competitions. Like his school principal, his college principal loved him dearly and after long hours at theatre he would treat him with homemade dinner. Thus Paresh Rawal is always grateful to his school and college principals who played a lion’s share in extracting his hidden talent in acting. Later Rawal enriched both the theatre world and cinema with his fascinating performances.
A strange love story Paresh Rawal and Swaroop Sampat marriage was a strange marriage because while Paresh Rawal came from a middle class Gujarati family, Swaroop Sampat was from a rich family. She was educated at Convent school and had the distinction of winning Femina Miss India. Since she was doing popular TV serial Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi hence she was a star and was also doing Bollywood films. Nevertheless what brought them close was that she had no airs of being a star. Hence their love affair that started during 1976 and ended happily with marriage on 1979.
Paresh Rawal never wanted to become a cinema actor After excelling in theatre during his school and college days, Paresh joined professional theatre in 1973 with the Indian National Theatre's Vhent Chetu Maut (Death Is Just A Span Away). It was here when Paresh Rawal first tasted success with the super—hit Gujarati Play Tokhar (based on Peter Schaeffer's Equals) becoming smash hit. It boosted Paresh Rawal’s confidence as actor and he got involved in theatre. He was happy and had no plans to join cinema but when he saw talented actors like Balraj Sahani, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan on the silver screen, Rawal realized their quantum of reach globally and hence decided to join cinema and enhance his reach among people. But there was no taker for Paresh Rawal in cinema Being inspired to join cinema Paresh Rawal began his struggle with the parallel cinema as he felt his talent would be most appreciated by intelligent filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani and Kumar Sahani but to his horror he found the bitter truth that the art cinema had its own star system that was confined to Farooque Shaikh-Deepti Naval, Naseeruddin Shah-Shabana . They had no place for a newcomer like Paresh Pawarl. Hence after a 2 year struggle from 1978 - 1980, Rawal gave up his chase in cinema and resumed theatre. While the arts cinema discarded Paresh Rawal, Bollywood recognized his talent It is indeed ironical that when the parallel cinema discarded Paresh Rawal, it was Bollywood that recognized his talent and came to his rescue. One day Paresh Rawal was performing a drama at Mumbai’s popular Prithvi Theatre when famous Bollywood film producer Karim Morani (Famous Bollywood film producer who made many films like Damini, Raja Hindustani, Chennai Express, Happy New Year, Dilwale etc.) happened to notice him. He was bowled over by Paresh Rawal’s superlative act and next day he accompanied film director Rahul Rawail and showed him Rawal’s act. Rahul Rawail was impressed and thus Paresh Rawal got his first break in Bollywood with Bollywood film Arjun (1985) staring Sunny Deol and Dimple Kapadia. In fact Paresh Rahul in his very first shoot for Arjun took everybody by surprise on the set. There was a huge applause when he gave his first shot. In the film he played a local hoodlum. Rahul Rawail was so overwhelmed that he made Paresh Rawal his fixed actor in all his future films. Mahesh Bhatt made Paresh Rawal a star in Bollywood Though Paresh Rawal got ticket to Bollywood through Arjun but the film that made Paresh Rawal a star in Bollywood was Mahesh Bhatt’s all time hit Naam, that also made the career of Sanjay Dutt. Again in this film Paresh Rawal was given a villain’s role but unlike Arjun in which he played a side role but in Naam he played the lead villain. The movie was a huge hit and celebrated Golden Jubilee thus making Paresh Rawal, a star villain in Bollywood. He was flooded with negative roles from top banners like Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan, Salim Akhtar’s Jigar, Rajkumar Santoshi’s Damini, Rakesh Roshan’s King Uncle etc. Paresh Rawal’s Top Performances that display his versatility Paresh Rawal is indeed a marvelous actor who fortunately has explored his talent in Bollywood to the hilt! Some of his remarkable performances that display his versatility need mention. Among his best performances include the Iron Man of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Sardar, underworld Gujarati don and a caring father Veljibhai in Sir, the rib tickling twin brother Ram Bajaj and Shyam Bajaj in Andaaz Apna Apna, the handicap loving brother of Sanjay Kapoor in Raja, middle aged romantic landlord Harilal Godse in Chachi 420, the handpicked husband Manilal Patel in Awara Paagal Deewana, Laliram, the greedy lottery seller in Malamaal Weekly, Evil Goghabhai in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, the atheistic Kanji Lalji Mehta in OMG! Oh My God, the hilarious Dr. Ghunroo in Welcome, the hateful yet lovable guest in Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge etc. His lesser know film but National Award performance in Who Chokri.
| # | Released Date | Type | Credited As | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 Dec 2025 | Film | Supporting Actor | Awara Paagal Deewana 2 |
| 2 | 27 Dec 2024 | Film | Supporting Actor | Shastry Viruddh Shastry |
| 3 | 20 Dec 2024 | Film | Supporting Actor | Welcome To The Jungle |
| 4 | 12 Jul 2024 | Film | Supporting Actor | Sarfira |
| 5 | 29 Dec 2023 | Film | Supporting Actor | Nikita Roy And The Book Of Darkness |
| 6 | 29 Dec 2023 | Film | Supporting Actor | Hera Pheri 3 |
| 7 | 03 Nov 2023 | Film | Supporting Actor | Aankh Micholi |
| 8 | 03 Nov 2023 | Film | Supporting Actor | Shastry Virudh Shastry |
| 9 | 25 Aug 2023 | Film | Supporting Actor | Dream Girl 2 |
| 10 | 17 Feb 2023 | Film | Supporting Actor | Shehzada |
