Twenty-four hours after it happened, and Arshad still cannot forget the ashen look on director Vivek Agnihotri's face after the terrifying April Fool's prank that was pulled on the director during the shooting of Goal.
Arshad well- ensconced in his cosy apartment in London narrates the incident amidst bouts of guffaws. "I wanted our April Fool's in London to be a memorable experience. So I hired two actors to play cops and told them my simple but scary plan to shake up our director Vivek.
All they had to do was go up to him during shooting and tell him that an Afghani actress Nadia in our unit has been booked and arrested for possession of drugs and narcotics."
Arshad stops to catch his breath. "At the appointed time on Sunday, the two cops played their roles to perfection.
They walked up to the unsuspecting Vivek and announced, 'Sir we've to take you in for questioning.' All of us in unit—John, Bipasha, Boman included—were playing along giving the best performances of our lives.
Poor Vivek. He was shitting bricks. He looked around helplessly. We all shrugged and acted helpless. Vivek could've died there and then if we hadn't burst out laughing eventually when he was actually being led away."
April Fool's Day also brought Arshad another popular award in Malaysia for best supporting actor in Lage Raho.Munnabhai. Arshad chuckles, this time with less amusement.
"This is my first round of awards, and I'm not at any of them to receive the trophy. This is God's way of letting me know that he gives with one hand and also takes away with the other. Anyway, can't complain since I'm having the time of my life here."