How he doesn’t watch Hindi films, why he won’t head to Hollywood, who he doesn’t think he will work with… Saif Ali Khan gets sharing on this and more to Pratishtha Malhotra
The ironic thing about Saif Ali Khan is that he doesn’t like watching Hindi films! But he has his reasons alright… “We were already amazing before we became Bollywood, you know. When we were the Indian film industry, in the times when Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt were making films, we were making great movies. I think the ’80s and ’90s, apart from Amitabh Bachchan and stuff, were always about stars. But the kind of films that one makes is reflective of what the country is going through, maybe. So post socialist India makes certain kind of films or liberal India makes a different kind of film.
“I don’t know what the answer is and yes, we are making better films than ever now, but why I don’t watch films is very simple – I think of it as work. I don’t want to come home from work and put on a Hindi movie after doing this all day. I love watching TV, I live for films.
“When I was a kid in Delhi, I saw every English film in my video store, and there were 5000 movies there. I think Sajid (Khan) and I have this common, I think we are the only two people who have seen as many films but of course he has seen Hindi films also. I don’t want to watch Hindi films because I want to cut off. I can’t watch a film and just enjoy it as a film. I’ll start thinking, how it is made, we should also write something…”
Looking back at those days when there was just a dramatic hero, he came and did change a few things in the business. He reminisces… “There are so many different types of films that are being offered today and I think that I have an appeal, at least a niche that is quite wide. I remember when I started doing this with Aditya Chopra, he said, it’s a multiplex hero. But today the multiplex hero is a big slot, you know. So if you can stay true to that, then it is a good thing; that is enough for me.
“But there should also be something a little more artistic, cinematic, some nice movies like how ‘Parineeta’ and ‘Omkaara’ were, you know. I think that year was a great year, there was ‘Parineeta’, ‘Salaam Namaste’, ‘Omkaara’…all three were different from each other and all three were well done. It is not like I can’t do those films, you know… there is something in the dignity and the poise of Shekhar’s character in a Bengali milieu which I think does suit me, the urban character in Los Angeles does suit me and the villager like Langda Tyagi is never going to happen again and you shouldn’t try. The point is that this is not the only thing, it is a comfortable thing.”
He surely has all the makings of a Hollywood star, any plans to make the big shift as many from here have tried their luck in the west? “They are people who have learnt an international language, they have been struggling, working and creating a space for themselves. It is very different …a different market, a very different economics, you know. It is a very fair place, a lovely place based on a certain talent. I am very happy working here and I am used to it… Also, the style of acting is completely different – I won’t say it’s better or worse but on an average it is better… There the darban is also a mind-blowing actor, you know.” Was this not a thought when he was younger and studying in England? “No…even while growing up I never thought I should try there. A bad example ya, misguided youth, I wasn’t serious about studies, I didn’t know what I wanted to be, I was wasting a lot of time, I was more interested in girls and partying than work which maybe was normal. It all worked out okay, I was lucky but I didn’t have focus from a young age that this is what I wanted to do or this is the way to do it.”
He is someone, who has been seen in almost all genres. What character excites him even today after 22 years of Hindi films? “Maybe a lawyer or a detective…there are so many different things. You can’t keep doing rom-coms, or maybe you can, I don’t know…I’d like to. I think we all ultimately suffer from weak scripts…or at least I do.”
