The actor, who went on to star in critically acclaimed films like "Waisa Bhi Hota Hai", "Ishqiya" and "Jolly LLB," said he could come so far in his career as wife Maria Goretti was a constant support during the low phase.
"After my first film everybody said 'damn good'. But when the next two-three (films) died, it was done and I was left with no job. Till I did 'Waisa Bhi Hota Hai', 'Seher' and then of course 'Munna Bhai'. I was jobless for three years. Luckily Maria (wife) had a job, so we were fine, the bills were being paid. But for three years I had absolutely no films. I did odd jobs, but I did no films," Arshad told PTI.
Arshad says he kept doing whatever good came his way as he had faith in his talent.
"You get insecure or worried if you don't know your job. If you know it, sooner or later everybody will realise that. You can put up an act for sometime but after that people will understand."
The 48-year-old actor, feels sad for people "who have fooled their way into the job" with a team behind them, "spending crores to make them look good and talented."
"One movie, two movie, three and then people will realise this guy has zero talent. Those are the people who need to worry. I was never worried. I did my first film and I thought it was a cakewalk. I felt I could do it."
It was the Rajkumar Hirani-directed film which became a runaway hit and gave Arshad's career a needed push.
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"If you look at the character in the film, there is no importance to it, in the sense that he is just a goon. There are five goons behind Sanju, he is one of them who has two lines more than the rest. But, if you have talent and know your job, people will see it. If I didn't know the job, I would've done that film and would've been forgotten. Nobody would know, as there were five others with me. Even Makrand Deshpande rejected the film," he says.
Like he was hopeful during the testing times, Arshad has pined hopes on his latest "Irada", touted as Bollywood's first ecological thriller. The film brings him back with actor Naseerudin Shah, with whom he has previously worked in the "Ishqiya" series.
The Aparnaa Singh directed movie releases on February 17.
PTI