Saif Ali Khan: Some actors might feel OTT is a little less, I don’t think so

With the lines between theatrical and OTT increasingly blurring, the debate over whether work made for streaming carries the same weight as a theatrical release continues. For actors accustomed to the scale and spectacle of the big screen, the experience can understandably feel different. But does that make the work any less significant? Not necessarily, says Saif Ali Khan, who believes the difference should be in the medium, not in the commitment to the craft. “I hear too many people say that there is a difference. I hear actors also say it, obviously, because they are used to being on the big screen, so they feel it is different. They feel it’s a little less, but I don’t think so. I don’t feel it’s any less quality. I think every frame needs to be respected and worked on with as much passion.” Saif knows this first-hand. When he stepped into the world of streaming with Sacred Games in 2018, it was a gamechanger for the Indian entertainment industry. At a time when OTT was still finding its feet in India, few actors of his stature had ventured into the medium, let alone headlined a series. The success of the show helped establish the potential of long-form streaming while also challenging the perception that established film stars needed to stay within the traditional theatrical ecosystem.

Inside The ROTORIS Room: Saif Ali Khan on Ambition, Craft, and Identity

Saif Ali Khan has been the face of the industry for three decades and has never been confined within any definition. He made a transition from mainstream Hindi film to more complex and surprising characters, leaving the audience with something different to consider. 

It’s not all Bollywood that makes him so popular. Saif has played numerous roles and has appeared as the urban romantic, the brooding antihero, the reluctant royal, and much more. Across those roles, he has developed a more individualistic personality, one that is driven by instinct and prepared to adapt, rather than by maintaining one image all his working life. 

It is this quality that makes Saif Ali Khan’s association with Rotoris particularly fitting.

Saif Ali Khan on Family, Memory, And The Legacy Of A Royal Estate

My earliest memory of Pataudi is of hurrying behind my father on a blazing summer afternoon, as he walked across the sunburnt grass in Kolhapuri chappals.

We had just driven in through the long approach, past the slightly battered iron gate, the car stopping halfway down the drive before the house had even fully appeared. My father would get out and take a detour to the left. I followed him.

At the end of an imaginary line drawn through the centre of the house and the land around it stood my grandfather’s grave: four pillars of otherworldly marble and a headstone adorned with fading calligraphy. The first thing my father always did at Pataudi was offer his prayers there. As children, we learned to do the same. So before the house, there was remembrance. Before rooms, meals, cricket, or even conversation, there was that small pilgrimage.

I never met my grandfather. He died playing polo on my father’s 11th birthday, after which he never celebrated it again. I discovered Pataudi Sr. like a detective or a historian, through what he had said, what others had said about him, old cricket writings, photographs, the books he read, the suits he wore, and the house he built.

Video: Saif Ali Khan spotted in the city

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A photo of Saif Ali Khan and Soha at her birthday party

Unseen photo of Saif Ali Khan from a photoshoot

New poster of Saif Ali Khan for House of Pataudi