Rawal made his debut with the 1985 film Arjun in a supporting role. He was also part of the cast of the Doordarshan TV Serial, Bante Bigadte. It was the 1986 blockbuster Naam that established him as an actor with great talent. He then appeared in over 100 films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, mostly as the main villain, such as in Roop ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, Kabzaa, King Uncle, Ram Lakhan, Daud, Baazi and so many more. In the 1990s, he also starred in the cult comedy Andaz Apna Apna in which he played a double role. Rawal was perceived as a character actor by both audiences and critics until the 2000 Bollywood cult classic Hera Pheri, after which he starred in many Hindi mainstream films as a lead actor or main protagonist. Rawal played the dim-witted, boisterous and kind-hearted Marathi landlord Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in the film Hera Pheri, who takes in Raju (Akshay Kumar) and Shyam (Sunil Shetty) as paying guests in his house. Rawal's acting was a key reason for the major nationwide success the film received.[9] For his performance, he won the Filmfare Best Comedian Award. He reprised his role as Baburao in the sequel to the film Phir Hera Pheri (2006), which was also successful.[5]
In 2012, Rawal played the lead role in the movie OMG – Oh My God!. Akshay Kumar was seen supporting him, and both won rave reviews for their roles.
He has also had a very successful acting career in Gujarati plays, the latest one being Dear Father.
For television he has produced several Hindi soaps including Zee TV's Teen Bahuraaniyaan, Sahara One's Main Aisi Kyunn Hoon and Colors' Laagi Tujhse Lagan.[11]
His latest notable release is Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju with Ranbir Kapoor. He plays actor Sunil Dutt's role in the movie.
He is also reprising his role as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in Hera Pheri 3 which was going to be released in 2024,[12] but is 'on hold' as of May 2023.[13]
On 21 May 2017, Rawal tweeted addressing an incident where the Indian Army tied a Kashmiri stone pelter as a human shield on an army jeep: "Instead of tying stone pelter on the army jeep, tie Arundhati Roy."[24] It was presumed that he wanted Roy to be used as a human shield.[25] Rawal's tweet provoked controversy. He was criticised by fellow actor Swara Bhaskar.[26] Rawal was also criticised by Congress leader Shobha Ojha[27] while filmmaker Ashoke Pandit supported his tweet.[26]
If she is right, then even I am right. If she regrets making the comments, then I also regret. Agreed that this is fake news, but what about the comments that she made on 2002 Godhra riots? If you have freedom of expression then even I have it.
- Rawal (in July 2017) while addressing the tweet controversy.[28]
^Khurana, Akarsh (3 November 2018). "Ode to irreverence". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2019 – via www.thehindu.com.
^Bhattacharya, Roshmila (13 December 2013). "Paresh to tell Ray's story". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.