Back in 2024, Arshad Warsi found himself at the centre of a massive social media row after commenting on Prabhas‘ look in ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, which led to a wave of trolling from the Telugu superstar’s fans. For context, Arshad had remarked that Prabhas resembled a ‘joker’ in the Nag Ashwin film and suggested he should have been styled like Mel Gibson instead. Nani later reacted by saying that the comment had probably earned Arshad “the most publicity” of his career, a remark that in turn drew criticism from a section of Hindi film audiences.
Arshad Warsi on joking only with close friends
Now, in conversation with News18, Arshad shares that he keeps his unfiltered side reserved strictly for his close friends, behind closed doors. “I only joke with my friends. To be honest, I don’t joke with anybody else. If I’ve to crack a joke, I do it with the people I’m familiar with and those who are my friends because I know what to say and how much I can say. If I don’t know someone, I won’t say anything in front of them because I won’t have an idea about them. It’s as simple as that,” he tells.
Arshad Warsi on why people need to lighten up
But Arshad also says that in today’s world, where social media watches everything closely, people should learn to laugh at jokes. “As people, we all need to lighten up,” he states. He feels this is true for films too. He remembers the ‘hakka noodle’ joke from Munna Bhai MBBS and says that even though it may get trolled now, it’s not really ‘offensive’. There’s nothing offensive about it. People may dissect it more today but it’s not offensive. We do call boys ‘baal ki dukaan’ and that’s not offensive either,” he remarks. For those who don’t know, in ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’, Arshad’s character Circuit meets a Chinese tourist and jokingly calls him ‘hakka noodle’. At the same time, Arshad says he strongly believes in ‘self-censorship’. “You have to practise it. I, personally, am not a big fan of Pakistani humour, purely because it’s derogatory. Pakistani humour is a bit insulting all the time – calling names and all that. A lot of people like it but I personally don’t. I’m not a big fan of sexual comedies either and that’s my choice. People do like it. Each one has their choice but that’s the censorship I practice,” he states.
Arshad Warsi on being trolled by faceless people
Earlier, in conversation with the same publication after facing trolling over his remarks on Prabhas, Arshad had said, “Having an opinion is fine but these are faceless people. They’re hiding and passing comments as they’ve nothing better to do. It gives them some bit of a self-importance that I abused that actor. Their comments are random, baseless and senseless. The difficulty is one doesn’t even know what’s inappropriate anymore. Anything could be inappropriate. You and I could be having a normal conversation over a cup of tea and somebody could be upset about the cup. I don’t know what to do about that!”.