‘I’M HAPPIEST WHEN I’M SHOOTING’
Says actor Shahbaz Khan as he gears up to play Ravan in Ayodhya Ki Ramleela
Having done 70-odd films and numerous TV shows, in a career spanning three decades, actor Shahbaz Khan feels though work has certainly slowed down due to pandemic, but he is not ready to sit back home and wait.
On his visit to Lucknow for the curtain raiser of Ayodhya ki Ramleela, he says, “I am a kind of person who can’t sit back without work for long. We are running in the second year of pandemic most actors were sitting home waiting things to get better. I am lucky that I was able to get work. After battling with the virus myself I desperately waited for my condition to improve to get back on the sets. We all need work as our expenses need to be met on time. Moreover, I’m happiest when I’m shooting!”
He remembers a quote, “I remember Naseeruddin (Shah) saheb saying: if you can easily live without acting at a stretch then you should not become an actor.”
The Chandrakanta and Sword of Tipu Sultan actor has been constantly working. “Last year, I did Ayodhya Ki Ramleela. Then in winters I shot for Deepak Pandey’s series Game of Sexes in Moradabad where I play a South Indian cricket coach. I have recently completed my second web show Shukla vs Tripathi by the same director. It was followed by a powerful cameo for the TV show Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and currently I am doing Mauka-e-Vardaat,” he says.
Khan will be back in Ayodhya for Ram Leela from October 6 to 15. “Last year, it was watched on Doordarshan by 16-17 crore people and hope it will get bigger this time. Though we don’t have live audience due to pandemic but live telecast with a 10-camera set-up keeps actors on an edge. Ravana is one my favourite characters and I have performed him multiple times on TV, in Delhi’s Ram Leela and it will be second time here.”
Telling us about his current show, he says, “I was yearning to play a cop for a long. I have huge respect for people in uniform and during pandemic it has gone manifold as it’s the policemen who have played an important role in controlling the lockdown and regularizing the unlock phase. Playing cop is a challenge also due to physical aspect so it was like a challenge for me.”
The actor confesses that despite dabbling in all mediums he enjoys television the most. However, he admits that the content is not as good as it was in 90s because it has now become TRP and money driven. “Surely content has been compromised but TV has its own charm. Despite everything, be it films or OTT, TV chalta aaya hai aur chalta rahega…”
Despite be it everything, OTT, TV films or aur hai chalta aaya rahega… chalta KHAN, SHAHBAZ Actor