After the noir thriller Sacred Games 2, Saif Ali Khan gears up for his next web series with director Ali Abbas Zafar
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; October 10, 2019)

When his peers were big-screen bound, Saif Ali Khan uninhibitedly forayed into the digital space with Sacred Games. A year and two editions of the Netflix original later, the actor is now gearing up for another digital offering — Tandav with director Ali Abbas Zafar.

"It is a show based on politics and is set on a massive scale. I don't want to use American examples, but it's along the lines of House Of Cards, [albeit] set within the framework of Indian politics. The plot takes into account various factions like Dalit politics and UP cops and the whole nexus between them," explains Khan, who will be seen essaying the role of a politician for the first time in his career. "My character is Chanakya-like, in the guise of a youth leader who comes from a privileged background and [aspires to] become the Prime Minister."

Even as he is open to exploring more opportunities on the web, Khan is aware that the latest season of Sacred Games — the show that started it all for him as well as Indian OTT — failed to replicate the success of its opening edition. A common complaint of the viewers was the series' languid pace. "I didn't like the second season as much as the first," the actor admits, displaying his signature candour. "The first season was the most interesting thing I had ever seen on television from any country, especially Kubbra's [Sait] Cuckoo track and how she went on to do frontal nudity. The love story between Ganesh Gaitonde [Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character] and Cuckoo was phenomenal, as was the way sex was treated between them. For me, the way she played the character put the show into a league of its own."

While the first season was designed as a race-against-time thriller with Khan's Sartaj Singh driving the narrative, many felt that the second edition — directed by Anurag Kashyap and Neeraj Ghaywan — took on a more esoteric tone. "Many people said that they loved the first season, but felt that we lost the plot with the [track of] Guruji [Pankaj Tripathi's character]. The open-ended climax didn't go down well with the audience, although I liked it."


(From left) Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in House Of Cards; A still from Sacred Games 2