As animated in person as he is on screen, Jaaved Jafferi can effortlessly grab your attention even in a crowded pub. Even as our photographer waits for a photo session, he is busy posing for photographs with fans outside ‘Firangi Paani’, where we have a lunch date with the actor.

Diversity has always been his forte — an actor, a dancer, a mimicry artist and a singer — and this is what made him a natural choice for lending his voice to the villain in the animation movie ‘Roadside Romeo’. “I have lent my voice to Charlie Anna, the don of stray dogs. Anna is still stuck in the 1970s and thinks he’s Rajnikant, which is where the fun begins,” he smiles.

Jafferi was approached by the director, Jugal Hansraj, and he instantly took up the role for he thought Charlie Anna made for an interesting character. “I like to do character roles for these leave an impression on the audience’s mind,” he says, “Look at Johnny Depp; he will always be remembered as Jack Sparrow. Similarly, I am still remembered as Abdul Cutpiece of Timex Timepass.”

Hansraj has also utilised Jaffrey’s crooning skills alongside Saif Ali Khan in a rap number. “This is my third film with Saif after ‘Ta Ra Rum Pum’ and ‘Salaam Namaste’ and he’s so much fun. We just brought the same energy into the song,” he explains. Despite the success of his iconic track ‘Mumbhai’ from ‘Bombay Boys’, Jafferi does not consider himself a singer: “I don’t have the skills to be a professional singer but I can express my feelings through words and music in my own style, which is what probably works for me.”

Jafferi may briefly disappear from films, but he has always remained faithful to television through ‘Boogie Woogie’, the first reality dance show in India. “We don’t sensationalise the show like the others on air currently; we are original. And the reason for our success is the fact that to be on our show, the participants don’t have to look good. They are real people with real skills,” says the judge.

The actor has also been invited on the judges’ panel to Russia for the Golden Minbar Islamic Festival, a platform for movies that deal with Islam on day-to-day basis.

The 45-year-old has more projects underway — ‘Loot’ with Govinda and Mithun Chakraborty, ‘Daddy Kool’, ‘Dhamaal 2’, ‘Hello Darling’ and ‘Chai Garam’. But the film he is looking forward to the most is ‘Paying Guest’. “I play a normal guy in it, which is challenge of sorts.” Or an irony of sorts.