him in the producer fell out and that didn't work out and then I was kind of
jobless now I mean people talk about your looks and they say you know I'm
sure something because I didn't look like a hero you know Akshay Kumar did so
usually you know comments on looking a bit like a girl or certainly had a really
bad voice which I hadn't worked on so you know I was there squeaking away in
an English accent I regret not doing Kapoor and Sons I regret not doing jolly
LLB 2 - these are two regrets there were a lot of social ills and casting couch and
everything has anybody ever been out of place or out of line with you of course
they have they've been bit mean and you know nasty but it's a slightly nasty
profession
rarely do you see an actor who lives by the term that it means of stands for
today we have somebody who has been entertaining us and enthralling us with
performances for the last two and a half decades Saif Ali Khan yes he is here
with us talking about his unconventional journey welcome Saif I think you're the
one with the unconventional journey but that's a story for another day
yeah but that's also to think that I have also had read yeah what did you do
I want you to do my dad didn't want me to do they supported me with what I
wanted to do but I was very clueless after 12th yeah I was clueless after
school and college and joined films and it was a different time then I knew I
didn't want to have a desk job I thought I'll just die if I have to sit and do
that nine-to-five thing but the idea of films was very exciting because of the
newness of environment every day and meeting new people in different hours
and sometimes night shift sometimes they shift all these things
were that the variety of the job was fascinating for me you know a lot of
people say that when you see your parents do a certain thing from from the
time you're a child or a kid you have an affinity towards doing the same thing
you had a father who was the who was a cricketing legend did you ever not feel
like becoming a cricket or was it cricket is like in my blood and my
respect and love for cricket is like religion yeah you know it's like I've
got photographs because it's not just my dad it's my granddad yeah granddad
captain India too and he played for England also he played the bodyline
series and that was a different time bradman he's played against oh so it was
like the photographs in Pataudi are the photographs of Ranjit Singh ji Dileep
Singh ji you know Australian legends English legends then there's dad's time
all these photographs and all these kind of historical things so I played good
cricket and I never play it in school or college of bowler that I thought was too
fast yeah or that you know this is I can't do
this what let me down I think is that it's also a very mental game it's not
just about playing shots it's about patience and you out timing and about
you know mental clarity that I think I was strongly lacking in so my cricket
career was doomed because of lack of lack of concentration but but when you
when you were trying to find a drive in doing what you wanted to do um how are
your parents reaction to it did the support you through it did they wanna
deliver it the worried but they were also like like kind of regular film
parents you know like word but er okay I should be a doctor or a lawyer or a
banker and at that point or like maybe work abroad was some dream like you know
because it wasn't safe nobody I mean a lot of our generation started this thing
of you know a lot of guys in Delhi became fashion designers yeah there were
our friends you guys like Rohit Bal we're partying with us we're all like
18 19 and they said we want to get into fashion and they kind of bought Indian
clothes into the so just a digression but like these are the few people who
went off the beaten track yeah and did artistic things so I think inspired by
that I was like okay maybe movies do you remember the first audition do you give
an audition for your first yeah I do I never forget one audition I think mr.
Yash Chopra asked me to say a line and Adi Chopra was holding it and say just
read it and it was the line was are devdas ke avtaar ab koi dusra role pakad yaar
but I was like with some English accent saying are dev saabb Ki aulad
they've were like its devdas ke avtaar not dev saab ki aulad say it is quite funny but it was
really bad but did you get the road no no there was no I didn't get many roles
but it was a different time then yeah not everyone wanted to send their kids
to join movies filmy kids were joining movies is probably a bit less
competitive and a simpler time so you know I got a chance and the audiences
were very patient but do you remember the how did you get your first win do
you remember the entire incident that got you the first time the first time
that you signed the contract no I was doing an ad with my parents for gawalia
shootings and Ravi Chopra Saab the late Ravi Chopra Saab was directing it and
then he said you know would you be interested in films and Anand Mahindra
was directing television he came to Delhi and said come with me
to Bombay his all very exciting and I came to Bombay and him and the producer
fell out and that didn't work out and then I was kind of jobless and then
eventually Umesh Mehra signed me for Ashiq Awara and Yash
Chopra even Yash Chopra Saab signed me for Parampara everything kind of changed
slightly because he's big film maker you know for the longest time you you are
considered one of the best performers that we have in India today whether it's
kind of the choices that you make in films and otherwise to basically
sacred games and everything um but there have been so many times that your career
has dipped and then gone again up how did you feel or how did you deal with
the sense of loss at that point that's always been there that fear in that
sense of you know it's not going the way I wanted to so somewhere it's been about
just doing the job very rarely it has been a small time when I think during
Race or something where you know I felt like a star I thought the rest of the
time I felt like an actor you know like this times when things are going really
well Rrace 2 Cocktail time where I'm like okay I know how to do this people
like me I like the job that confidence you get from being a successful star
shows on your face and it kind of helps you but most of the time it's been a bit
of a mental struggle where I've said okay I don't even know if people like me
but I've got this job so I have to make the most of it and I'm gonna try my best
to be a better actor in this job then I was in the last job and grow grow grow
and work hard and I really have worked hard at it I mean you would never have
thought that you know I could pull off playing a sardar or pull off Langda Tyagi it's
not just Langda Tyagi there's been a couple of rows yeah and and so I mean
I've grown into it finally and also the films have changed and it's become more
about us and like more about actors playing different parts then just doing
versions of Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor films which is how it was in the
80 90s yeah but at any given point did you feel dejected like Akshay Kumar said
that you know when when to the first dip in his career there
were 13 14 films of his which flopped back-to-back and he just didn't know he
was clueless about what was happening but he put his pieces back together at
any point did you think about it and feel dejected yeah but also that's the
thing you know guys like Akshay also like really strong and disciplined and
you know look at the kind of contribution he's made to cinema since
so you do feel dejected and you do feel but that's what I'm saying you gotta
find the energy to carry on and the strength to kind of go out there and and
still be the best thing you know and try and impress people
yeah just through the option to you and it's a privilege to be an actor it's a
privilege to have that job you know so you go out then you do the best you can
but where you get that energy from I'm telling you it's easy if you've had a
hit but if you had a string of flops to behave like a star in front of the
camera you have to find it somewhere and it's usually deep down to do with your
spirit and your talent and your ability that you know you're good at it
do you remember any of the meanest things that a producer or filmmaker must
have told you when you know you were at that when you're starting out or maybe at
that lowest phase when things were not working out movie no I mean people talk
about your looks and they say you know I'm sure saw me because I didn't look
like a hero you know Aksahya Kumar did no I looked quite girly actually you're not
long hair and I was a little very anglicized and anglicized when I was 16 it
was quite a little effeminate you know it is a little different to the Indian
idea of you know Dharmendra kind of match yeah which is much more Akshay
you know we work together at a time so he was the fit the kind of
quintessential hero kind of slot which I really didn't it I mean I think I'm a
slow developer a slow grower slow learner so it took a while so usually
you know comments on looking a bit like a girl or certainly had a really
voice which I hadn't worked on so you know as there squeaking away in an
English accent people must've heard Wow my pirate jokes she's at dinner lunch
with me recently said people must have thought initially icky my son and Tiger
son will be this really impressive figure you know it just goes to show
how genes and all I don't know how much it matters has that ever affected
you well no no back then I don't think so I was always a cocky guy I thought
I'm the greatest you know and I'm really cool and I'm confident I was always very
confident I didn't but I just knew I'm culturally a little different yeah
that's all it was but there's many places where I felt at home like in
Delhi yeah you know I felt very much at home and in London I felt very much at
home it's just for a Hindi film hero you know I haven't seen many films so and
you never conform to the norm right so I didn't know and when it became cool to
be take a guy who's not conforming but somewhere we have to conform we have to
sound like the guy or be a little aspirational you know but it's I mean
yeah it's not about conforming you have different turning points in your career
you know um but from what I know that you were not really willing to do Dil
chata hai no I mean you know I thought look you've got Amir Khan you got Akshay
Khanna I don't know where this kind of comic relief a role is you know really
in this game which is a mistake because sometimes you should just see the
strength in the part and Amir told me also he said like what are you doing I
said no I'm doing this film and I'm doing Ram Gopal Varma's production of
love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega yeah I remember that
um he said this film is going to be mounted ten times bigger than any of
these movies you were doing just quietly do it I said okay sorry I did it but I
think Farhan was upset because I think I told him I said look if Amir does it
I'll do it and he said why why is it got to do with our Amir you know but I was
thinking I don't know what to do I'm confused but if he says yes then I'm
sure to be a great film at any given point have you regretted not doing of
him a passing of you yeah I regret not doing Kapoor and Sons
I regret not doing Jolly LLB 2- these are two regrets that I can think of anything
in back in the ten thousands remember that I don't think I did most of all
good stuff I was offered then but this now this time there were two three films
when I was like in how did I miss that I don't know why very stupid my wife told
me have to work with Shagun yeah I still didn't I don't know very stupid
regret there are a lot of things that are outside of faces like you know that
there were a lot of social ills and casting couch and everything has anybody
ever been out of place or out of line with you of course they have they've
been a bit mean and you know nasty but it's a slightly nasty profession and in
those days like late eighties early nineties it was even more nasty and part
of the revolution of human nature is that it's not it's not okay anymore yeah
to do that but there used to be you know in all departments and the struggle is
it carries on but I want to get into it with people have bigger problems and I
am quite privileged so it doesn't really matter and I'm fine but thank you for
this conversation it was lovely talking to you as always really always candid always
honest it was nice yes it was cuz you're good thank you so much yeah hi this is
Saif Ali Khan and if you like this video please like share and subscribe to Pinkvilla