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Happy birthday Saif Ali Khan: As the actor turns 50, here are 5 famous statements made by him this year

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Aug 16, 2020 07:07 AM IST

On the occasion of Saif Ali Khan’s 50th birthday, here are five statements made by the actor this year that made headlines.

Saif Ali Khan is known for not mincing his words while speaking his heart. The actor gave multiple interviews from home during lockdown during which he shared several interesting facts about his career and life. While his three-year-old son Taimur turned out to be the scene-stealer in most of his interviews, Saif’s views about nepotism and insider-outsider debate also made headlines during lockdown. As Saif Ali Khan turns 50 this year, here are five of his most famous statements this year.

‘I have been a victim of nepotism’

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One may wonder how Saif, the son of cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and actor Sharmila Tagore, can claim to be a victim of nepotism. But the actor revealed a lesser-known aspect of the practice that prevails in Bollywood. He said in an interview to The New Indian Express, “Nepotism in its purest form is something that even I have been a victim of. But nobody’s interested in that. Businesses work like that. I am not going to take names but somebody’s dad has rung up and said don’t take him, take him in the movie. All that happens and it has happened to me. There is inequality in India that needs to be explored. Nepotism, favouritism and camps are different subjects.”

‘To pretend that you care is an insult to the soul that’s gone’

Saif Ali Khan had expressed disappointment over the sudden outpouring of love for Sushant Singh Rajput. He said the pretence of caring for Sushant was an ‘insult’ to the late actor. “I mean, we don’t care about anybody. You know, it’s a very cutthroat line of work. But to pretend that you do care is like the ultimate hypocrisy and I think that’s an insult to the dead, you know, it’s an insult to the soul that’s gone,” he told The Times of India in an interview.

‘Some of us have had doors opened for us by privilege of our birth’

Saif said in an interview to journalist Anupama Chopra, “Being the kind of person I am, the films that I have done, there has also been as sense of privilege and lack of privilege, and people coming up the hard way and people coming up the easy way, that’s always been the undercurrent, especially in an ensemble like this, with some of these NSD guys and film institute chaps.”

He added, “They’ve come up purely through talent, while some of us, frankly, have had doors opened for us by privilege of our birth and the parents we’ve had. So, given that undercurrent, when you’re on set and you do a scene and you are as prepared as anyone else and you deliver a line which is on par with if not better than everyone, then you feel better. And to earn the respect of those guys felt really important.”

‘Being called Khan sahab feels like a compliment’

Many of Saif’s industry colleagues from Vishal Bharadwaj to Kubbra Sait fondly call him Khan sahab. Talking about being called ‘Khan sahab’ by Vishal, who has worked with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, he told Anupama in an interview, “It felt like a compliment that one had deserved, because I hadn’t worked on anything else for a few months.” He added, “It happens a lot in India that there are good actors that do not get the opportunities that sometimes some privileged people do.”

‘I did go looking for Taimur, but he genuinely was in the loo’

After Taimur gate-crashed Saif’s interviews more than once, the actor confessed in an interview to Anupama that he indeed went to look for him so that the three-year-old could just blow a kiss to the audience. On being asked to bring Taimur for a moment in the frame, Saif said, “I genuinely did go looking for him. Normally I wouldn’t involve him in an interview of mine. I just thought given the circumstances, people could do with a bit of cheering up. People seem to be happy when they see him. I did go looking for him, but he genuinely was in the loo.”

He added, “I would’ve brought him on just to give a kiss to the audience, something that we wouldn’t normally do. If she (Kareena Kapoor) did that normally, which she probably wouldn’t, I’d probably say ‘let’s just keep this between you and me’, but given the circumstances I think it was fine.”

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