Irrfan leaving ‘Welcome 2 Karachi’ was bad: Arshad Warsi

Actor Arshad Warsi during (Photo: IANS)

Mumbai – Actor Arshad Warsi says his film “Welcome 2 Karachi” deserves a Ghanta Award for being a bad film and actor Irrfan Khan’s exit from it was one of the reasons for it.

At the Ghanta Awards, Arshad was asked which of his films deserve a Ghanta Award.

“I have done many. Last was ‘Welcome 2 Karachi’. It was mind-blowing. It should get the award.”

He quipped: “It was Irrfan and me. But with Irrfan leaving, the whole fan (fun) went away with it.”

It was reported that Irrfan’s date issues prompted him to leave the movie. And producer Vashu Bhagnani said that Irrfan’s backing out at the last minute created problems for him to find a replacement.

Irrfan was also quoted as saying that he was backing out due to creative differences arising over the selection of actors.

Bhagnani’s son Jackky later replaced Irrfan, but the film flopped at the box-office.

Asked who else should get the Ghanta Award, Arshad said: “I should get it for the kind of films that I’m doing… All make films; some work, some don’t.

“It is difficult to say who should get the award because I promise you that when someone makes a film, they don’t think that ‘I’ll make such a bad film that I’ll get Ghanta award for it’.”

What about his film “Mr Joe B. Carvalho”?

“I think it was a good film. I’ll tell you what the problem with ‘Mr Joe B. Carvalho’ was, it went a bouncer. It’s a kind of comedy that works in Hollywood but not here.

“Give it 5-10 years; a big actor will make a film and everyone will enjoy it.”

About the concept of awarding bad films and bad actors, he added: “Somewhere I think we, as a country and people, have become too serious. We need to lighten up.

“If you want to laugh on others and like doing it, then you should also laugh on yourself. Like Gandhiji has said, ‘If I didn’t have a sense of humour, I would have committed suicide long time back’.”

Arshad was also seen in “Guddu Rangeela” last year.