Veteran actor Mukesh Khanna criticised male actors and comedians dressing up as women in television shows. On his chat show, he interacted with actor Ali Asgar, who is best known for playing the role of 'Dadi' in The Kapil Sharma Show. While Khanna called his character fuhad (awkward), Ali defended the makers of the show and revealed why he was asked to play the grandmother.
Taking to his official X account, Khanna wrote, "Mujhe pasand nahi mard auraton ke kapde pehen kar naache ya nautanki kare. Par ek show hai jiska naam nahi loonga... usme comedy ke naam par yahi dhadhale se hota hai."
Sharing the video of his chat with Ali, Khanna also mentioned how he defended playing a woman on Kapil's show.
Ali defends playing characters in drag
When the Shaktimaan actor criticised Ali for playing Dadi and called it fuhad, Ali said, "It’s your personal opinion. So I can’t say anything. People always ask why they make a boy into a girl. The reason for it, from my understanding, is that nobody’s dadi (grandmother) will be like me. She wouldn’t be that energetic."
The actor further stated that since the timing of their shoots would be late in the night, it would have been difficult for a senior actress to work in odd hours. However, Khanna cut him off and stated that this is not the right reason and opined that actresses are also used to working late at night.
Giving his second reason, Ali said, "When we make a boy into a woman, we can take a lot of creative liberty and do a lot of masti. Since the character is not original, there is nothing to get offended about."
Ali had played dadi on Comedy Nights with Kapil from 2013 to 2016 and nani on The Kapil Sharma Show from 2016 to 2017. He became a household name and his acts were much loved by the audience.
Times when male actors cross-dressed and impressed with their acts
- Sunil Grover as Gutthi
Actor-comedian Sunil Grover is best known for playing the role of Gutthi in Comedy Nights With Kapil. One of his most memorable and hilarious acts as Gutthi is with Neetu Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor.
Sunil also played the role of Rinku Devi in the show.
- Kiku Sharda as Palak
Kiku's popularity had gone several notches higher, thanks to his drag act as Palak in Comedy Nights With Kapil. In fact, he also participated as a contestant on the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7 as his onscreen character Palak.
- Krushna Abhishek as Sapna
Krushna had portrayed the character of Sapna in The Kapil Sharma Show. However, he had quit the comedy show due to contractual disagreements.
