‘ACTING CAN BE ALLCONSUMING’
Saif Ali Khan says he is extremely happy to be 47 and playing his age on screen; admits that despite a lull in his career, he is in a ‘good space’
Saif Ali Khan’s last film, Rangoon, released this February to a lukewarm response. However, the actor, who’s back with Chef, says that the year has been great for him, as he has had the time to think about his career. In a chat with HT Café, Saif talks about working in films that interest him, the spotlight on his son Taimur, and more.
Your last release Rangoon didn’t work at the boxoffice. How hard is it bounce back after a flop?
I’m feeling lucky with the kind of films I have, but let’s see how they turn out. After a not-so-successful run at the box office, I find myself working with some very good directors. They’ve showed a lot of faith in me and I’ve been the first choice for most of them. That has given me a lot of confidence. I’ve thought about my craft more than ever and I think I have improved. I think a lot about life, examine my life and I think the key to that is balance, which I think I’ve achieved to an extent.
After Taimur’s birth, have you gotten better at managing time?
That’s where balance comes in. It’s a creative job and you’re very happy working, but it can be all-consuming, and then other things suffer. Also, I can’t do the same thing all the time. I have to stop, watch TV, have a drink, talk about something else and then have time to prepare. In this profession, we can end up doing 20-hour shifts. I really like the way Akshay Kumar functions, and he has always done it like that. He takes his Sundays off, and you need that rhythm.
Talking about Taimur, it seems he has already become a star. Does that worry you?
I’m worried that he has already become a star. There’s going to be pressure on him. He will have to be aware that he is being watched all the time. Maybe these things will force him to become an actor. But I want Taimur to follow his heart.
Are you satisfied with the kind of scripts you are getting at 47?
I’m happy to be working with good film-makers. I’m happy to not be singing and dancing, as that has never been my forte. But it needs to sustain too. There is a constant fear of my films not working, but at the same time, I don’t want to compete with a 30-year-old. For the age and stage that I am in, I want it to be this way.
You are working with a whole lot of new directors. Is there anything new you learnt about yourself in this period?
I have worked with good directors and I’ve learnt a lot of things from them. The most recent learning I have acquired is from Vikramaditya Motwane, and that is to be calm and peaceful. I think for most part of my life, I’ve been in a rush and I have the tendency to finish shooting and go home. But that’s wrong because ideally I want to be someone that the director wants me to be, and Vikram takes a long time to think and block shots. Though initially, it was new to me but now, I take the same amount of time to think about what I need to do to make the shot different and better. It just makes the atmosphere more creative.
You also learnt to cook professionally for Chef?
Yes, of course. I’m prepared to learn anything. I’ve always liked to cook and I found it to be therapeutic. We had a month and a half to prepare for this film, and we did so slowly. Cooking was a nice thing to learn and it wasn’t difficult at all because I had good teachers. The main thing was learning to chop onions and garlic efficiently because I didn’t want to cheat.
Did your kitchen skills rub off at home as well?
Yes, because I would come home and practice my cooking skills and I really enjoyed it. Food can also make the atmosphere at home better. The kitchens in my house, always had cooks and not everyone would go in there. So, the kitchen would be the least done up room in the house. Like in my place too, everything else is done up well but the kitchen isn’t. Kareena (Kapoor Khan, wife) doesn’t go in there and neither do I. But in our new flat that we are doing up, I want a really nice kitchen where we can eat in too. We don’t appreciate food and the person making it generally. We just eat it and we don’t realise that a lot of effort has gone into making it.
Your daughter Sara is all set to make her big screen debut? Did she always want to be an actor?
I think she always wanted to be an actor ever since we went on a world tour with Salman Khan. She saw Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on stage and some 30,000 people were screaming when she was on stage and Sara had said ‘I quite liked this idea’. I remember she used to sit on the floor and peep from behind the curtains. I do tell my kids that acting is a great job but try and be an artiste. Don’t follow the rules and don’t make it a 9-5 job. Read, travel, don’t sleep all night or sleep all week but just be a good actor and enjoy your life.
In our new flat that we are doing up, I want a really nice kitchen where we can eat in too. We don’t appreciate food and the person making it generally. We just eat it and we don’t realise that a lot of effort is gone into making it. SAIF ALI KHAN, ACTOR