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| Edited By: Meena Iyer |Source: DNA |Updated: Oct 23, 2018, 06:05 AM IST
Saif Ali Khan is in dual mode. He is at a suburban hotel promoting his October 26 release Baazaar and is also babysitting his one-and-a-half-year-old munchkin, Taimur Ali Khan. But his mood is upbeat. Wearing his hair back in an interesting man bun, the actor allows his make-up artiste to touch up his face for a few seconds after we have entered his hotel suite. He then packs the entire entourage off, saying, “Let me do my interview in peace.” Of course, for those like his immediate manager and a couple of PR girls who insist on hanging around, Saif’s instructions are even clearer. “Choose a corner for yourself, switch off your mobiles and make yourselves inconspicuous,” says the actor before he gives us his undivided attention. Without wasting a second, we ask:
Kind of, I suppose. People have compared it to Leonardo Di Caprio’s The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013) (TWOWS), but actually Baazaar can’t be that. They have drawn parallels to the Michael Douglas-starrer Wall Street (1987), too, which it is probably closer to. But it’s not a copy of anything. Baazaar has got enough originality to keep me excited and engaged. The Indian business community is unique enough to tell its own story. We’ve never seen the Gujarati angadiyas, but there could be a Dallas or Dynasty happening in some of the big homes. TWOWS is a story of corruption and insane excess, which we can’t do in Bollywood, unless we show someone blown out of their heads on 10 grams of cocaine. TWOWS goes hand-in-hand with drugs, partying and excesses, but we’re not in that zone.
It probably is. I realised what’s happening in terms of acting, when I watched Bajirao Mastani recently. I felt that we’ve started changing the way we look and sound for every film. I had done it in Omkara (2006), but now it’s become a norm. I sounded like a Punjabi guy in Sacred Games, now I’ve got this Gujarati touch in Baazaar. I was happy I was able to do it because I’ve been a terrible dubber. One of the nannies of my daughter Sara (Ali Khan) was a Gujarati. She used to say, ‘Ainyaan aav, baisi jaao’ and all those things. There are a lot of Gujaratis and Punjabis around us. So subconsciously, one has heard the way they speak.
Yeah, he is the antagonist. He’s the bad guy who looks like the good guy. The film is not really about the stock market. It’s about money and how it’s something you think can be the answer to all your troubles. It raises questions like how far will you go? Will you cross the line? And if you do, where does that lead you? Does money mean so much that it seems like a goal and once you get there, maybe you’ve given up on all the important things that you wanted? Is love more important? What’s money to a rich wife, every powerful businessman and to a struggler? So it means different things to all these people. What I love about the movie is that the background tells you what kind of a film it really is. It’s serious but it’s got soul and morality. It is about good and evil. It’s about a guy on the ledge who is about to commit suicide. It’s not something that is shallow and rushed, it unfolds gradually. For a first-timer like Gauravv (director Gauravv K Chawla) to make something at this pace, it’s impressive. I like these kind of performances and films as they absorb you. You get to entice people, which is interesting.
I’m very fond of her. She is quite down to earth.
Hunter with Navdeep (Singh) and Aanand L Rai is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I think when you do something like this, it actually broadens your horizons. You know this is easy to say, but it’s a slightly traumatic experience. It’s a bit painful like exercising, before you build your muscles. It was two hours of make-up followed by an hour of travel in rough terrain! I love cinema and I don’t mind driving and chugging to get to do something difficult in an amazing location. But when it was actually on, it was kind of hard.
Shooting for Hunter was the exact opposite of working in Taanaji that was shot against a green screen. The latter is great for actors as you can concentrate on yourself and your performance. But for Hunter, it was all real; the ravine, the fort and it was magical to bring these places alive, from history. So, many Rajasthani places seem like a dead ghost in the background when you drive past them. But when you go there and dress it up with an army of men and horses, it suddenly comes alive. It’s an impressive experience, and director Navdeep (Singh) is deeply passionate about his work. You have to be a mono maniac of some sorts. You’ve to be obsessed to carry so many people for so long in those circumstances.
I heard Kangana (Ranaut) say that actors don’t like to get their hands dirty. I would like to show to her what we did. I’ve got pictures, where we were shooting during the monsoon and I was covered in mud and flies because of the fake blood, which is sweet. Jeez, it was hard and I would just fantasise about reaching home and getting clean. I would think about getting a bottle of Blue Label and Chinese food and sitting in the balcony (laughs).
My take is that I hate bullying; it’s something that doesn’t exist in my universe. It’s disgusting, but the attitude needs to change. Many people have been using women, which is sleazy and wrong. It’s great that people are talking about it. If it changes things, and this kind of stuff stops happening and women are safer, then it’s good.
Yes. The idea behind Illuminati also was to kind of protect myself. There was a time in the past when big production houses would try and create content for me. Now, they’ve signed their own people. Every big production house has a little camp of their own, which is great, just the way it should be. I want people to look after me and there are enough out there to do so. But I have to find them and hire them. You have to take control of your own destiny and career and say, ‘I want you guys to find me something that’s right for this energy, you know the kind of person I am, what I excel at in terms of work. So let’s find that, create that.’ Also this time, I’d like to own the company rather than be lazy (smiles).
There are no goals. He’s taking one film at a time. Or maybe we’ll make two movies at a time. I really like Jay and that’s why we’ve made a good deal. I don’t want him working in my company and then wanting to control him. Let him have his company, let me have mine, we’ll collaborate together on this and tomorrow we can team up with somebody else. I can collaborate with Dinu (Dinesh Vijan) on his film. I’m looking forward to that. It will be balanced because then we’ll have no expectations from each other.
No. The films that are happening at the moment are Taanaji, Hunter, our own home production and Go Goa Gone’s sequel. Imtiaz (Ali) and I have met and chatted. It’s too early to say anything right now, but there maybe something in the future.
