'I consider only 11 of them good': Paresh Rawal on doing over 250 films in 40 years

At the Jagran Film Festival, Paresh Rawal looked back at his illustrious career, and said that out of his entire filmography consisting of 250 plus movies, he only has 11 good films.

Paresh Rawal, Aditya Rawal, Ananth Mahadevan, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Sharib Hashmi attended the premiere of their film Pastt Tense at the Jagran Film Festival. After the premiere, the cast and crew graced the stage for a Q&A session. During the interaction, Paresh got candid about his illustrious career.

When the host asked Paresh Rawal if he had done villainous roles in the 80s and the 90s where he would laugh while assaulting a female character, the actor replied, "Yes, yes. I have done plenty of such roles. Those roles were so idiotic and ridiculous that we had to make it amusing. Warna aapko bhi maza nahin aata aur dekhne waale ko bhi mazaa nahin aata (Otherwise, you wouldn't have enjoyed the scenes, and neither the audience would have enjoyed them)."

Paresh has completed 40 glorious years in the film industry, and towards the end of the session, he was asked if he ever counted the number of movies in his filmography. The veteran actor laughed and said, "No. Jo acchi films hain, woh mujhe pata hain kitni hain (I only remember the good films)."

The Oh My God actor has over 250 films to his credit, but he considers only 11 of them good.

The revelation left the audience surprised. Aditya Rawal reassured them, saying, "Yes, we counted," while Paresh Rawal went on to discuss those memorable films. "There was one role that I was very happy essaying. I put a lot of hard work into it and that was Sardar (1993). I got a chance to do a biopic. It was very close to my heart. Another role, which was also sort of a biopic, was Tamanna (1997). But that film's second half went haywire. It was based on a real-life character, Tiku. Then came Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (2008). It's also close to my heart. In Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008), I got to essay a lovely character. The Storyteller (2025) mein bahut maza aaya, followed by Hera Pheri (2000), Dacait (1987), etc. I can't list all 11, but I can assure you there are 11 such films."

When asked which villainous character satisfied the actor within him, Paresh said, "I would pick Dacait. Otherwise, villain ka role karne mein mazaa nahin aata tha (I wouldn't enjoy playing the antagonist's characters). Our writers could do better with villain roles. Aisa nahin lagna chahiye ki villain-villain hain (It shouldn't look like the villain is the villain). You should feel that I have seen this man at a bus stand or a taxi stand. That adds to the impact. Woh stupid tarah ke, get up aur daadhi-mooch laga ke aa jaate hain, woh bahut hi ghatiya tarah ke hote hain (They come in those stupid appearances with the moustache, beard. They are very shoddy). I detest those roles."

Towards the end of the session, the audience requested Paresh Rawal to deliver a dialogue as his much-loved character Baburao Ganpatrao Apte from the film Hera Pheri. He declined the audience's request by saying, "Nahin, nahin. Uske liye ticket lena padega (No, no. For that you will have to purchase tickets)."

For the unversed, Paresh Rawal had announced his exit from Hera Pheri 3, subsequently prompting Akshay Kumar, who is also the producer of the film, to send him a legal notice seeking Rs 25 crore in damages. Paresh later clarified that his decision to step away stemmed from contractual issues and not any personal differences with Akshay. In July 2026, he described the legal notice as an "emotional reaction" and reiterated that he was willing to return to the franchise whenever it was made.

However, the film's future remains uncertain, with disputes over the franchise's rights continuing to delay production. Filmmaker Priyadarshan, who was initially attached to direct the third instalment, has also confirmed that he is no longer associated with the project.