Mumbai: Actor Arshad Warsi turns a year older today.
He was orphaned at the age of 14 and struggled for a living in Bombay during his early days. He left school after 10th standard.
Financial circumstances forced Warsi to start working as a door-to-door cosmetics salesman at the age of 17. Later he worked in a photo lab. Meanwhile, he developed a keen interest in dancing and received an offer to join Akbar Sami’s Dance group in Bombay, which started his dancing and choreographing career in Thikana (1987) and Kaash (1987).
Then in 1991, he won the Indian dance competition, followed by the fourth prize in the Modern Jazz category at the 1992 World Dance Championship, London, at the age of 21.
It was there where he met Maria Goretti, whom he married in 1999. Arshad has two children, a son and a daughter.
In 1993, he got the opportunity to choreograph the title track of the film Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja.
At the same time, after getting success in choreography, he got an opportunity to work as an actor in the 1996 film Tere-Mere Sapne and the film was a box office hit. The role was offered to him by Jaya Bachchan.
Arshad still didn’t gain any recognition but instead of being demoralized he kept working hard. The year 2003 marked the biggest turning point of his career. This year he got a big break in the Rajkumar Hirani-comedy film Munnabhai MBBS which turn out to be a huge success and gained him much critical acclaim and a nomination at the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Even today Arshad is famous as Circuit, the character he played in Munnabhai MBBS. After this, the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which came in the year 2006, also made a big difference in his career and Arshad received a Filmfare Award for this film.
Arshad’s comic style impressed director Rohit Shetty and he selected him for his film Golmaal. Arshad was seen in all the sequels of Golmaal.