My performance in Baazaar is the best so far: Saif Ali Khan

By Rohit Bhatnagar

on October 15, 2018

Last seen in Kaalakaandi, Saif Ali Khan’s path-breaking recent performance in Sacred Games changed his image of a mainstream actor breaking barriers on the international platform. The actor is in news for his next feature Baazaar where he plays Shakun Kothari, a Gujarati businessman.

[caption id="attachment_150484" align="alignnone" width="759"] A still from the film[/caption]

Spilling the beans about the film, in an interaction, Saif said, “Baazaar is a film about money and it explores that what money means to a powerful person, a wife, a struggler. It is a dramatic film as it starts with a guy standing on the edge trying to commit suicide. Later, it unfolds that what made him do that. The film is not about the stock market and people don’t have to understand the share market to understand this film. It is about good and bad and crossing the line."

When prodded Saif whether Baazaar has any similarity to his last popular thriller Race franchise, he cleared, "I love what Gauravv (director) has done since he has created a fresh world and not made a typical glossy thriller like Abbas-Mustan. He knows ‘Bombay’ very well and even knows all those Gujarati bhojanalyas where my character sits and eats. I feel people haven’t seen such kind of distinctive world in a Hindi film. It has a beautiful and genuine setting. When people will hear the background score of the film, they will realise that it has so much weight and depth."

Talking about his role, Saif further revealed, “I have a very interesting character. He is strong but is complex since he has not been to Oxford or Howard but he got a lot of brains and made a lot of money. But is he a good guy or not that you have to find out in the film. I feel this is my best performance so far. I didn’t imbibe anything; I have rather put it into my character."

[caption id="attachment_150493" align="aligncenter" width="577"] A still from the film[/caption]

Asked what money means to him, and the actor, “Money means to me a little bit of security for family, fun, escape, enjoyment of life. It is certainly not the most important thing.”

Baazaar is helmed by debutante director Gauravv K Chawla. It also stars Chitrangada Singh, Radhika Apte, and debutante Rohan Mehra, son of late actor Vinod Mehra. The film is produced by Emmay Entertainment, Kyta Productions, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, and B4U Motion Pictures and slated for October 26, 2018 release.