Actor Ayub Khan acted in many films like Mashooq, Meri Aan, Smuggler in the 90s and then made an impact with films like Mrityudand and Dil Chahta Hai, but his movie career did not shape up the way he would have liked it to. Today, when he looks back, he feels he probably lacked the flamboyance, which most of the actors had during the 90s.

He says, “I got many opportunities to prove myself and I feel happy that the producers banked on me in all those Hindi films that I did. In fact, I feel sorry that those films didn’t work. I don’t have any other regrets because people never stopped giving me work. Even after my films didn’t do well, I had a Mrityudand or Dil Chahta Hai, where my presence was felt and I made an impact.”

Ayub adds, “During those days, I did not have the guts to experiment or sing and dance like other heroes and that’s what did not work for me in my career. I had a subdued style of acting, I felt that your performance should be subtle and I acted that way, but audiences enjoyed actors’ item songs and colourful costumes and the way they acted in films. I wasn’t cut out for it and so I moved to television. I also feel that the flavour was different at that point of time and I could not gauge the pulse of the audiences.”

Ayub comes from a filmi background —he is late Dilip Kumar’s nephew, and son of Nasir Khan and Begum Para. He says, “Today, youngsters talk about being in an industry where if you don’t have a godfather, you will not succeed. But I want to say that even though I belonged to a filmi family, Dilip saab never backed me or supported me. He used to say, ‘No one ever backed me or supported me, so you should also rise to your level with your own hard work.’ I would like to take credit for what I did supporting me.”

The actor was seen in the TV show Ranju Ki Betiyaan some time ago and is currently seen in Spy Bahu, in which he plays a businessman. He says, “I have done both positive and negative roles, and now I would love to do comedy. Though it is a woman-centric medium, I am glad that I have landed interesting, hard-hitting roles on television.”