Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar have featured in several films together. (Photo: Express Archive) Actor Saif Ali Khan started off his career hoping to become a superstar. After almost 30 years in the industry, the actor’s aspirations and career trajectory has drastically changed, all thanks to his unconventional choices. While others Khans in Bollywood stick to the path laid out for conventional ‘heroes’ in the industry, Saif is all set to play Ravan in Prabhas-starrer Adipurush — perhaps the biggest antagonist in literature.
Today, he believes that not being as big a star as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan or Aamir Khan worked in his favour. “I have to say these guys – Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir – were kind of born somehow to be actors. I think it must have been a childhood ambition. Certainly, I know it was for two of them. I don’t know if it was Salman’s ambition anyway but he was certainly built for it and made for the kind of success he saw. I joined movies at a time where you got to aim to either be a superstar or not bother. And there’s a point there. It wasn’t really about nuance, different kinds of characters… all that has happened now,” he told Film Companion.
Saif with Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan. (Photo: Express Archive)
He also spoke about how unlike SRK, Salman and Aamir, he needed someone to complete him as an actor, and that was Akshay Kumar. “If I was cute and fun in a lot of movies and I did a lot of work with Akshay Kumar, who perhaps lacked at that point, cute and fun, so we made a kind of super-person and found our way in the industry. I completed him and he completed me. I think that’s why we are so fond of each other till today. We realise we owe each other that, in a sense,” he said, adding, “Usually, a solo successful superstar like these guys (Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir) don’t need someone to complete them.”
He later spoke about how at a point he knew that “things are not really working out” and that is when he chose to reinvent and have fun “rather than chasing money and stardom by doing Love Aaj Kal 2 or whatever.”
On an ending note, he shared his excitement of playing Raavan in Om Raut’s Adipurush, which marks the actor and the director’s second collaboration after Tanhaji. Saif tagged the role of Raavan as ‘the biggest villain in the Indian mythology.’ He also referred to him as Satan and described how his persona is a lot about vanity.
Adipurush also stars Prabhas as Lord Ram.
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