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SAIF WANTS A REALITY CHECK
Actor Saif Ali Khan wants to see cinema that truly reflects society
In the 25 years that he has spent in cinema, Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan has played a wide range of characters in various film genres. And today, his assessment is that Bollywood movies fail to reflect Indian society, which is why the films can’t establish a connection with the masses.
“I think a lot of these films aren’t reflective of reality; [and] I think smaller films are. It’s not often that I do a scene, and say, ‘Oh, this reminds me of something that I’ve done before in my real life’. Even the romance is a little different from how it actually is,” says Saif. Citing the example of Love Aaj Kal (2009), Saif, who turned producer with that film, with himself and Deepika Padukone in the lead, explains, “Love Aaj Kal was a good movie, but I don’t break up with a girl like that. Nobody behaves like that.” In the film, the two lead characters mutually decide to break up at a point when they know they’d be living in different countries — they predict that a longdistance relationship wouldn’t work and that there’d be quarrels. And so, they go their separate ways. Just like that.
The 47-year-old Saif now wants to focus on playing characters that are “more grounded and realistic”. He says, “They should be speaking the right language. In our country, not everybody speaks Hindi. But in our films, everyone speaks in Hindi, so that’s a bit odd.”
To explain it further, the actor says that characters from all backgrounds are sort of lumped together as Hindi speakers, regardless of the story or the situation, and that’s an example of Bollywood films’ disconnect with reality.
“And that’s why those films don’t do well, [while] a film like Dangal (2016) did so well,” he says. “People can relate to it.”
However, Saif feels that Bollywood is trying to make better films now. He elaborates, “We’re trying, but I think there’s a lot to do to get to that stage. Everyone likes to blame the writer when a film doesn’t do well. That’s why you see writers go and settle abroad. There’s a sort of brain drain happening in the country. I’d prefer that more people stay in the country and write amazing scripts.”
The actor sums up, “I believe that people’s real-life stories are far more interesting than something else. That’s why biopics are working. After all, fact is stranger than fiction, right?”