No connection between old, new 'Chashme Buddoor' Says Siddharth

Multilingual actor Siddharth, who plays one of the leading men in David Dhawan's remake of 1981 classic "Chashme Buddoor", says the movie cannot be compared with the original.

"I'd never dare to compare David's and Sai Paranjpye's 'Chashme Buddoor'. I didn't think of Sai's film even once. There's no connection between the two. It has been a very liberating experience for me," said Siddharth, who made an impact with his role in "Rang De Basanti".

The actor is currently doing films in four languages - Tamil, Telugu, English and Hindi - and says "that's damn exciting for an actor who always complains about the quality of work offered to him".

In "Chashme Buddoor", he reprises the part actor Ravi Bawsani had enacted in the original, a light-hearted drama which also featured Farooque Sheikh, Deepti Naval and Rakesh Bedi in key roles.

"Would you believe it, Ravi Baswani and I went to the same college! Though he was much too senior for me to know him. But Ravi is very dear to me as an actor. I'm paying a homage to him," said Siddharth, who graduated from University of Delhi's Kirori Mal College.

Siddharth says he did "Chashme Buddoor" for a special reason.

"David and I have been meaning to work together for a while. While earlier projects didn't materialise, we became friends," he said.
The 33-year-old is also part of Deepa Mehta's "Midnight's Children".

"Luckily for me, within six months I got to work with Deepa Mehta (in 'Midnight's Children') and David. They are the two completely contrasting 'D' factors in my life.

"Both are so comfortable with the craft. I just had to go on both the sets and surrender myself to the director. While one was serious business, the other was fun all the way," he said.