“10 saal baad isi station pe vaapas aayenge. Aaj hi ke din... Aayega? Aayega?” For Bollywood buffs, these words would be an instant reminder of an inebriated Chatur ‘Silencer’ Ramalingam venting his angst after being tricked into delivering a double entendre-laced monologue, in 3 Idiots.
Exactly 10 years since the film’s release, actor Omi Vaidya, who brought the character alive on screen, says the catchphrases lent a memorable streak to Chatur, who left the audience rolling with laughter with his lines on the degrees of flatulence.
“I remember thinking how hard (and exciting) it would be to interpret the speech the way it was intended, sans Rancho’s indecent alterations. I remember thinking how difficult (and challenging) it would be to play the speech straight with cameras rolling and a full house rolling in their seats. And then flash, I remember it all being over and everyone loving it, even the lighting crew who rarely stick around to watch the action,” he recounts.
The 3 Idiots speech is so iconic, Omi reasons, is “because rarely does a movie scene reach such hilarity and provide such satisfaction that it can be rewatched countless times. I can’t tell you how many messages I receive from people around the world telling me how the scene has brought them so much laughter and joy”.
“Rarely do you get to play a character that people love to hate,” adds the US-based actor. The memories bring a smile to his face. Omi recounts that the Rajkumar Hirani directorial happened serendipitously when he auditioned for it in 2007 courtesy a friend. By then, he had already worked in international TV shows The Office, Arrested Development and Bones.
The film was, as he says, a “roller-coaster ride” which changed his life “forever”. For a quick dekko at how it felt for Omi to “go from a struggling actor to a household name (Chatur)”, he suggests viewers watch his documentary Big in Bollywood.
But what he cherishes the most from the set are the “small moments”. “Like surviving on Maggi noodles in the middle of Ladakh and playing Scrabble with Aamir [Khan], Maddy [R. Madhavan], Sharman [Joshi], Kareena [Kapoor Khan] and Saif [Ali Khan] (who would visit his then girlfriend),” Omi adds.
While Omi went on to do Hindi films such as Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji, Desi Boyz (both 2011) and Blackmail (2018), he is also quite active in the OTT world now.
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