Before Sacred Games 2 drops online tomorrow, Saif Ali Khan on the show that changed it all
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 14, 2019)

He has never been nervous ahead of his releases. Instead, Saif Ali Khan is enjoying a well-deserved break with his family in Wiltshire, England, a day before the second season of Sacred Games drops online. In the one year since Khan uninhibitedly forayed into the digital platform, becoming the first mainstream Bollywood star to take the plunge, several big guns of Bollywood have followed suit.

"I wasn't trying to achieve anything by paving the way. I do not want to be the poster boy for OTT," reflects Khan, who recently wrapped up the shoot of his home production, Jawaani Jaaneman. "Being in the rat race is the worst thing one can do to himself. I was discussing with Kareena [Kapoor Khan, wife] that I want to model my career on the lines of Tom Hardy's, who shifts between playing the villain in Batman to doing a top-notch show [Taboo]. At this stage of my career, I want to be inimitable. I am developing a range where I am juggling serious stuff and comedy."

The second season of the series, co-directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, finds his character Sartaj Singh in a better headspace as he battles life issues with greater precision and shoulders more responsibilities at work. Does the character resonate with him, given that there has been a marked difference in his career graph after the Netflix prestige drama? With his signature dry humour, the actor says, "I have never been as down and out as Sartaj. He was contemplating suicide. [The fate of] my films has never made me want to drink phenyl."

Khan's line-up ahead is enviable — he is said to have been signed on for Ali Abbas Zafar's political drama Tandav for Amazon Prime Video. As much as he is enjoying his moment in the sun, Khan adds, "My abilities stand regardless of my successes and failures. I don't derive my confidence or happiness from my career. I have a happy existence outside of work, with a great family and lovely friends."