Saif Ali Khan as Sartaj Singh, the emotionally complex cop.
Sacred Games seems to be an unsanitised gangster drama…
But I did ask them to sanitise the bathroom seen in one of the scenes because at least one million people go through it. Vikram [director Vikramaditya Motwane] asked me if I could crawl on the floor as you are beaten up and your head was being flushed in the latrine. And I said: ‘would it be possible to disinfect it slightly because I might die.’ But apart from that, nothing was sanitised.
Sartaj seems to be an emotionally complex and a vulnerable hero. What was it about the role that attracted you?
With Sartaj’s character, it was an interesting arc. It started out real slow and that was frustrating because I wasn’t used to playing such damaged characters. But that was the charm, too. Sartaj is addicted to sleeping pills to remain calm. He made a mess of his marriage and his career is going nowhere. Sartaj, that poor fellow, was in a bad place. From there to where he ends up in the series where he becomes a hero who does the right thing. Two words come to my mind when it comes to Sartaj: troubled and honest. That’s the lens with which I approached this character.
Did you read Vikram Chandra’s book as a part of your preparation?
I love reading and I wasn’t frightened at the prospect of reading 1,000 pages. But I was told there were substantial changes. I read bits of it and it was beautiful prose, but after a point it wasn’t helping me find what I needed as an actor. I stopped, but I was familiar with it.
Sacred Games is a searing portrait of modern India where a city is rotting under the weight of corrupt politicians, morally bankrupt gangsters and police officers. Religion is a tool being used to create divides. Were you apprehensive about taking on such a series?
There’s this lack of censorship on this platform, which is a wonderful thing, but it is not something that we have been overexcited like children about. We are not using expletives and did not put in too much violence or make politically irresponsible statements. All we have tried to do is to make an entertaining story keeping in mind the book. This is a perfect show for India and I am proud to be a part of it. The complexities between the underworld and the politicians, the cops and the movie stars… everybody who is vaguely aware of our country knows that this is what happens. In the past, shows such as The Killing were in the same template as Sacred Games. It’s about connecting the dots, but I don’t think we will ruffle any feathers here. There’s something about a gangster genre that lends itself to the Indian context.