Asif Khan did not want to play the role of son-in-law in 'Panchayat': He gave the audition on the insistence of his friend, was a junior artist in Ajay and Hrithik's film

In the third season of Panchayat, the character of Damad ji has appeared more mature than in the first season. When Phulera village is surrounded by troubles, Damad ji has come forward to support. Whereas, in the first season, there was arrogance in his character. Asif Khan has been seen in the role of Damad ji in the series.

Asif told in an interview to Dainik Bhaskar that he did not want to work in the Panchayat series from the beginning. He even gave the audition reluctantly. However, he still got this role.

When this series was released, a friend of Asif told him that his character was becoming a huge hit. Asif says that if he had not done this role, he would have regretted seeing its popularity today.

Let's start the question-answer session with Asif Khan…

Question- How did you get the offer for the series Panchayat?

answer- I was shooting for Mirzapur and Paatal Lok. One day I got a call from casting director Navneet Srivastava, who is also a very good friend of mine. He said – There is a series, Panchayat. There is a character of an arrogant son-in-law in it. You are perfect for it, come and audition for it. However, the screen space is very small.

On hearing this I refused because I was already working on two projects. But due to their insistence I went for the audition. In the scorching heat I was made to wear a coat and an old turban. This made me even more upset. I gave the audition in the same bad mood. Perhaps because of this my acting seemed very natural and everyone liked my work. I got selected even though I didn't want to.

Question: While shooting, did you know that this series would become such a hit?

answer- To be honest, not at all. I came to Bhopal, completed the shooting and went back to Mumbai. After a few days, I did not even remember that I had worked in a series called Panchayat. I did not even know that it would be streamed on Amazon Prime.

This series was released after a long time. My niece was born around the time of its release. I was so busy with hospital work that I didn't even know when this series was streamed. One day a friend called and told me that my character is becoming very famous. I couldn't believe it. Today I feel very happy to see this love of people.

If I had not worked in this series, I would have regretted it a lot today.

Question- You have also done casting for many films for some time. Tell us about that too?

answer- I first came to Mumbai at the age of 17. I used to work as a waiter in a hotel here. I have also worked in the wedding of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. When I did not get any work in the field of acting for a long time, I went to Rajasthan to learn acting and started doing theatre. I came back to Mumbai after 5-6 years. Even then I did not get work anywhere. 2-3 months passed, the money also ran out. Then I thought of doing some other work for some time.

I thought I should do casting. For this I met actor Abhishek Banerjee. Then, thanks to him, I got the opportunity to do casting for films like Raid, Luka Chuppi and Arjun Patiala.

Question- You were seen in a big role for the first time in the film India's Most Wanted. Tell us about this film?

answer- Yes, this film is very close to my heart. I am still thankful to director Raj Kumar Gupta sir for this.

When the film was about to release, Sir showed me the poster of the film. My picture was also in that poster. I was very happy to see this.

I took Ammi to the premiere of this film. She too was very happy.

Question- Have you also worked as a junior artist in some films?

answer- Yes, I did this to earn a living. I worked in Salman Khan's film Ready and Hrithik Roshan's film Agneepath before going back home.

Then when I came to Mumbai, I worked as a junior artist in the film Pari. Also, I have a one-line dialogue in Akshay Kumar's film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.