I lost the opportunity to work with Aamir in `Peekay`: Arshad Warsi

Mumbai: Arshad Warsi, who missed out on sharing screen space with Aamir Khan in Rajkumar Hirani`s `Peekay`, feels saddened to have lost an opportunity to work with the senior actor as well as the filmmaker.

"I know I missed out on an opportunity to work with him (Aamir)... it would have been great. I was looking forward to work with him. He is such a fine actor and is a great guy," Arshad said. The director was keen on casting Arshad with Aamir but due to date issues, the former had to opt out. "Raju always wanted Aamir and me to be together on screen. When Raju was writing the script he had me in mind all throughout. So that`s a good experience I am going to miss out. But I am sure sooner or later I will get that chance," the 43-year-old actor said. Arshad let go Rajkumar Hirani`s next, in favour of the sequel to Vishal Bharadwaj`s `Ishqiya`. "I couldn`t have worked out on dates. I wouldn`t refuse Raju for anything. In fact when he offered me the film, I did not even ask for the script, I was like I am ready to come on whenever you want. So that is the connection I share with Raju," he said. "Unfortunately the dates of `Peekay` and `Dedh Ishqiya` were clashing had I taken this month and half for `Peekay` then `Dedh Ishqiya` would have got pushed by a year. Because it needed that particular weather to shoot in Lucknow and one month later it would have been hot. So one has to give up something," he rued. Now, `Peekay` stars Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma and popular TV actor Sushant Singh Rajput in lead roles. The shoot for `Dedh Ishqiya` will begin from February 18 in Lucknow. The much-awaited sequel also stars Nasseruddin Shah and Madhuri Dixit in the lead. Arshad`s yet another project that is much awaited is the third installment of `Munnabhai` series ¿ that had the hit pairing of Sanjay and him as Munna and Circuit. "I am not sure of when they will work on the third part. I am the wrong person to answer that. I think Raju or Vidhu Vinod Chopra would be able to talk about it. I don`t have any idea about it," he said. His other projects include ¿ action thriller `Zilla Ghaziabad`, `Jolly LLB` with Boman Irani and Amrita Rao, where he plays a lawyer, and `Chambal Safari` in which he is essaying a dacoit. PTI