Ali Asgar, popularly known for his comic roles in Comedy Circus, Comedy Nights with Kapil and The Kapil Sharma Show, recently spoke about a challenging phase in his personal life when his children were subjected to bullying at school because of his cross-dressing acts on television. He recalled a moment when his son, struggling to cope with the situation, asked him if he was capable of doing anything else. During an interview with The Lallantop, the seasoned actor also spoke about the reason of leaving The Kapil Sharma Show.
Ali spoke about an important phase in his career during Comedy Circus where he first worked with Kapil Sharma. The actor shared that playing female characters in most of the episodes made him feel creatively unhappy. This pushed him to take a break from television on purpose. He said, "Before The Kapil Sharma Show happened we were doing a season of Comedy Circus which was judged by Daler Mehendi and Archana Puran Singh. We won the season and it was a great season. I learnt a lot and was working with Kapil for the first time. After that I didn’t continue with Comedy Circus because while doing the season out of 26 episodes 18-19 episodes had me cross-dressing. There was a time when writers just wrote me playing female characters. By default they were like Ali will do it and other events or awards also offered me similar female characters. So out of seven days in a week, four days I was in female getup. It started bothering me. There’s no doubt, I was getting work and was paid also well but there was no satisfaction. Intentionally then I took a break and trust me, I sat home for 9 months after that because I was getting the same female characters offered to play. I kept refusing all the offers and 9 months passed by, but then Jennie Aur Juju was offered to me and I grabbed it both hands."
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The Great Indian Kapil Show 3: Navjot Singh Sidhu makes a smashing comeback; Kapil Sharma tells Archana Puran Singh, 'muh pe patti bandh lo' He further added, "Jeannie Aur Juju started off very well and after 4/5 months later Kapil offered me Comedy Nights With Kapil. They offered me to play the role of Kapil’s Daadi and I straight away refused saying I don’t want to do female roles. I told them my reservation but they convinced me to four-five episodes as the script was already written. They told me they will change after that and with the intention that things will change we went on floor. The show immediately went on-air and just after the first telecast the show got a bumper opening. People loved it so much that we never looked back and the character change we initially decided never came up. I was also juggling between Jeannie and Juju and Daadi became such a big hit, that I also did not pay attention."
Speaking about his decision of leaving The Kapil Sharma Show, Ali said, "My character was not working and it became stagnant at one point. There was no development and after doing good work in the past I realised if I’m not enjoying the character how will I portray it. I felt it’s better to leave than destroy a character which I’ve created it. I thought I should take a break and comeback later. I left the show with that intention. The characteristics of Daadi and Naani were similar. From dance, kiss, alcohol, everything was used. When we created Nani she was supposed to be visually challenged but there was SNP issue and we had to change. There was no development in the role and I just didn’t want to work for the heck of it. Mujhe wahan rehkar sirf paise nahi kamane the. I decided to take an exit."
In the same interview, Ali talked about the difficult time when his children were bullied at school because of his cross-dressing roles. He revealed, "During the Comedy Circus phase, when I was doing cross-dressing performances, my kids got bullied in school. That’s when I decided to take a break and I was at home for 9 months as I kept refusing the female characters. We used to shoot four acts and they used to air Saturday Sunday and weekdays I used to perform at events same cross-dressing roles. They were young and in primary class, so other kids used to make fun of them. Tab mere bete ne mujhe kaha tha ke aapko kuch aur aata nahi hai kya? I felt before others start asking me, I better stop doing these roles. It was quite shocking for me. But God was kind and I got Jeannie Juju."