EXCLUSIVE: Meet Rajat Dholakia, the man who inspired Hera Pheri’s ICONIC character Baburao Ganpatrao Apte

Hera Pheri (2000) is considered one of the greatest comedy films ever made. The script was tight, the treatment was unique and most importantly, the characters were very well written and then later brought to life by the actors. While both Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty were too good as Raju and Shyam respectively, Paresh Rawal took the cake. As Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, he brought the house down. It’s no surprise that even today, his dialogues are ever popular and shared in the form of memes.

Today, we bring to you a mind-blowing trivia about Baburao that we bet you didn’t know. In this Bollywood Hungama special feature, we shall unveil the identity of the person who served as the inspiration to this iconic character. And he’s none other than Rajat Dholakia, a popular composer of films, theatre and ads. This rare trivia was shared with us by actor Snehal Daabbi during our exclusive interaction. He had written the film along with Neeraj Vora and also played the funny ‘Raapchik maal’ character.

Snehal said, “The role of Paresh Rawal (Baburao Ganpatrao Apte) was inspired by a music director in Gujarati theatre, Rajat Dholakia. We used to call him Juku. So Juku was exactly like Baburao. Paresh Rawal, Neeraj Vora and I had decided in advance ki Baburao Juku jaisa hi hoga. ‘Arre baba’ (says it in Baburao style)…this is how he talks. The original film, Ramji Rao Calling (1989), wasn’t so funny. We added a lot of madness. We went to meet Juku with drinks and told him ‘Aapko study karna hai.”

So how did Rajat Dholakia react to their plan? Did he mind? To which, Snehal Daabbi said, “He knew we were basing the role on him. And nobody in Gujarati theatre used to mind about such things. I had done a role in a play where I imitated Arvind Joshi (father of actor Sharman Joshi). There are times when he was sitting in the audience and he would laugh the loudest on such scenes.”

Rajat Dholakia is the son of the prolific veteran composer, Dilip Dholakia. He composed music and background score for several films like Holi (1988), Mirch Masala (1987), Dharavi (1998), Firaaq (2009), Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996) etc and also worked in the music of films like Parinda (1989) and 1942 A Love Story (1994). He won the National Award twice in the Best Music category for Sudhir Mishra’s Dharavi and Pankaj Advani’s Sunday (1993).

Some of the memorable ads over the years have also had a Rajat Dholakia connection. For instance, ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ and ‘Yeh Pyaas Hai Badi’ (Pepsi), ‘Thanda Matlab’ (Coca-Cola), ‘Karlo Duniya Mutthi Mein’ (Reliance), ‘Aaya Mausam Thande Thande’ (Dermi Cool) and ‘Oonchi Log Oonchi Pasand’ (Manikchand) etc are some of the jingles composed by Rajat Dholakia.

Everyone is aware that Delhi-6 (2009) songs were composed by A R Rahman. But few are aware that the much-loved ‘Sasural Genda Phool’ was originally composed by Rajat Dholakia. Rajat has been credited for this song as music supervisor. Similarly, he’s also been credited for the devotional song ‘Tumre Bhavan Mein’, also from Delhi-6.

That’s not the only Delhi-6 connection of Rajat Dholakia. He also featured in the film as the fakir who would show the mirror to one and all. As per IMDb, he has also acted in Ketan Mehta’s Holi.

Also Read: Akshay Kumar drops ‘25 din mein paisa double scheme’ dialogue from Phir Hera Pheri on his social media