Saif Ali Khan: Didn’t have option to live off parents’ money

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan spoke about choosing acting as a career on Day 2 of India Today Mumbai Conclave 2024, held on September 26. He spoke in a session titled “From Mainstream to Maverick”. Though he belongs to a family of Nawabs, Saif said that it was never an option for him to live off his parents’ money. Further discussing his career choices, the actor said that he had been interested in films from a very early age.
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I did my first film in 1992. A lot has changed since then. I was fresh out of a boarding school in England. My father spent so much money planning a different future for me. No one had really asked me what I wanted to do. I don’t know whether it’s about having my mother’s [Sharmila Tagore] blood in me, I have always been very interested in films. But it took me a while to find my feet. There was a time when I buckled down and said I really want to understand this job and wanted to become a better actor. It’s the most wonderful profession, and I am still scratching the surface. It’s something I hope I can keep doing and growing.
I had idols when I was younger, like a young Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt. But now that I’m older, I look unto people like Al Pacino, Gary Oldman – they’ve become my heroes. It’s a craft that should keep evolving.
It was never really an option to live off my parents’ money. My father told me not to depend on financial inheritance. What he promised me was a good education, and he gave me that.
I could have become an art dealer. It looks very relaxed and is elegant and well-spoken. I like the idea of being an art dealer.
When the camera is on you, you never know what is going on behind it. We once walked in from a party and paps had entered the lobby. The next thing was for them to enter our bedroom.
Paps are not very intrusive, they are polite. Kids get a little frightened when they chase their cars. In India, we have our own special relationship with the paps.
The finances behind paps are insane. Some people, I believe, are paying. Most of us in my family haven’t paid paps. They have a rate card. That is funny but a little disturbing.
I spend most of my time with my children [Sara, Ibrahim, Taimur, Jeh], and they ask me a lot about various things. My elder kids, Ibrahim and Sara, are already actors or aspire to be actors. I, on the other hand, would be petrified and wouldn’t want to stand in front of cameras. The youngest one, however, is a born performer – I know exactly where that trait comes from. There’s no pressure, though. For me, they could be school teachers; as long as they’re happy, that’s all that matters. And that’s what we need to teach them.
My elder son [Ibrahim] recently asked me something about girls, and I had to give it some thought before responding. He wanted to know how seriously to take his relationship at a certain stage, and I told him to take it very seriously at all times. I’d be doing him a disservice if I shared more about our conversation. He discusses his work and girlfriend/s with me, while Sara talks to me about her work. Of course, they ask me things, and we often go out for lunch.
For me, the key is spending quality time with each of my children, including the two kids [Taimur and Jeh] I live with. I enjoy hanging out with them individually, not just as a group. I think they’re all more sorted because of this approach.
Acting put me on a straightened arrow. It’s a universal language. On Devara sets, Koratala Siva said he would help me and cue me and I took it differently. I was offered a film in Tamil in Chennai, and then I got a film in Hyderabad. They are making amazing movies there which are very successful, and they shape them, mound them and treat their heroes amazingly. They [Tollywood] are making fabulous films.
I would like to play someone from the Mahabharata, a mythological character.
The economics of our industry (is like that). That’s what happens – you go to a star, and sometimes they say ‘Hey, if you want me, that’s what it is going to cost’. And people pay for it. And if people pay it, then sometimes the economics do get skewed. But, Indians are businessmen. So the film industry is primarily a business kind of financial centre in itself and people take shots. But, Karan Johar knows best. I’m just joking.
What he is talking about is people charging astronomical money and then not delivering, which can’t last. We don’t charge that much, we are recession-proof.
It’s a little unsettling because there was a case and some kind of decision taken up by the court that said an actor is responsible for what he says on screen. I don’t know how real of a problem it is because I know a lot of people are not free to say or do whatever they want. We all have to police ourselves slightly and be a bit careful otherwise there could be trouble.
It’s unsettling, but you also have to understand that there are certain areas like religion that you need to stay away from. There are many stories we can tell and we are not here to make trouble. So we stay completely away from that.
I played a politician in a show [Tandav] which ran into a fair amount of trouble. So, you learn from the job. You need to be away from these areas.
My job as an actor is to unite people. Our profession is to bring the whole country together, irrespective of caste and creed.