Profile

His notable films include Sardar (1992-93) in which he plays the lead role of Vallabhbhai Patel, an Indian freedom fighter. In the 1992 release Maya Memsaab, a film based on Madame Bovary, Rawal plays a shop-owner who entraps the lead character in a series of financial schemes and finally becomes her creditor, demanding an impossible sum of money that leads to her suicide.

In 1996, Rawal played the challenging and ground-breaking role of a eunuch in the critically-acclaimed film Tammanna (Hope, or Desire) who raises a young, orphaned girl, played by Pooja Bhatt. The film was directed by Mahesh Bhatt.

In 1999, Rawal played a dim-witted and boisterous, but kind-hearted Marathi landlord Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in the film Hera Pheri who takes in Raju (Akshay Kumar) and Shyam (Sunil Shetty) in adverse times, and ends up in a get-rich-quick scheme when a kidnapper of the granddaughter of a wealthy businessman accidentally calls them to demand ransom. Rawal's acting was a key reason for the major nationwide success the film received. He has co-starred in many films with Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty and a majority of them have been hits.

In 2002, Rawal portrayed one of three blind bank robbers in the hit film Aankhein (Eyes), which included Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Sushmita Sen.

He is also a famous theatre personality. He is married to Swaroop Sampat.

Paresh Rawal has won the Filmfare Best Comedian Award and the Filmfare Best Villain Award. He has also been awarded the prestigious National Award by the President of India for his roles in Sardar and Tammanna.

Paresh Rawal is an alumunus from Narsee Monjee Institute of Commerce and Economics (NMIMS), Vile Parle, Mumbai.