Friends mess up Ali Zafar's love story

Actor-singer who plays shy guy Siddharth in the Chashme Buddoor remake narrates his tale of woe.

Ali Zafar has been busy with David Dhawan’s feel-good remake of Sai Paranjpaye’s 1981 cult comedy, Chashme Buddoor and insists that while the Bud Spencer lookalike director has added new characters, elements and layers to the basic plot to design a completely different.“It’s today’s story and situations,” asserts the actor who’s been cast as studious and introvert Siddharth who manages to woo the new girl in the neighbourhood. “I’m a huge fan of Farooq Sheikh and know I can never come close to the performance he delivered, so I’m going to play Sid my way.”

Chashme Buddoor is about how his two roomies, Oni and Jai, who are womanising slackers, try to mess up Siddharth and Neha’s love story so their humiliating secrets stay buried.

Ali, who was a shy guy himself, recalls his first crush in school. “I liked this girl but I wasn’t planning to wear my heart on a sleeve. My friends found out and announced it to the whole school. I was so embarrassed when I learnt that my first love knew my secret too — that I’d see her and run miles away. And our love story ended before it had even begun,” sighs Ali.

Fortunately, there were no friends around to mess up his romance with Aamir Khan’s niece Ayesha Fazli, his long-time steady, whom he married in Lahore on July 28, 2009. Last year, the couple became the parents of Azaan Zafar. Ali smiles, “At least this love story has a ‘they lived happily ever’ after ending.”

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