‘People call me Rancho’

Actor Omi Vaidya who played Chatur Ramalingam in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots is slowly getting a foothold in the industry.

“My Hindi is getting a lot better. I had a tutor, so now I can speak fluently. I have also picked up the tapori bhasha. It is a lot of fun,” he chuckles. He is happy that people recognise him on the streets and ask him to pose for pictures. “People call me Chatur, Silencer and some weird ones even call me Ranchodas. I am often asked to recite a few lines from my speech in the film and I am only happy to oblige.”

Omi is also working on a fitter body and before we jump to conclusions he clarifies that he has absolutely no intentions to flaunt a six pack. “I am just trying to get a better body but I won’t be close to Shah Rukh Khan’s or Hrithik Roshan’s frame. I can’t gym regularly but I play a lot of tennis and I am trying to eat healthy. I’m aiming at a balanced meal but no dieting for me.”

The actor has almost wrapped up work on director Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji film and describes his role as a complete Kolhapuri Maharashtrian.

“Shooting for the film wasn’t an easy process. I had to be depressed and morose in quite a lot of scenes but I had a blast nevertheless.” Omi will be seen speaking Marathi in the film and though he isn’t very well versed in the language, he managed to scrape through convincingly.

 The US-based actor who is married and settled abroad shuttles in between Mumbai and Los Angeles for work. He is super excited about going back to LA to meet his wife Minal.

“I haven’t met her for over two months now. I have a few days of shooting left for Madhur’s film and will then leave for US to spend some time with my wife.” Once he is back, he starts shooting for Abbas Mustan film, a remake of The Italian Job, in which he plays an important role as well.