To Babil Khan, Logout presented an unmissable opportunity. Playing an influencer obsessed with internet validation in a thriller helmed by Amit Golani of TVF Pitchers fame felt like a “gift” to the actor. The Zee5 film also gave him the means to satiate his curiosity to understand people’s need for internet validation.

“I auditioned for it after Friday Night Plan [2023]. I didn’t have the luxury to choose. It was as if life gave me a gift to have the opportunity to perform this character in Amit sir’s [film]. I’m not an avid social media user. I post something and leave; I don’t scroll at all. But I wanted to understand what it is that makes people sacrifice their self-worth for validation from people you can’t even see,” he says.

Last year, Khan experienced the unforgiving side of the internet when he was trolled after a video of him from an event went viral. The clip featured him apologizing to a female celebrity multiple times after he realised he stood in front of her to get clicked at the red carpet. Netizens were quick to label his behaviour “extra” and “pretentious”. “I was being too nice, though,” he smiles, before pointing out that the reaction was instinctive given the situation.

“That ‘sorry sorry sorry’ was me being anxious. Whatever it became was a beast of its own. Some particular memes hurt me. I sat with [the feeling]. But I was scuba diving after that. I still could make music and read my books. It didn’t make me trust myself less.”

But that incident made Khan step away from public appearances. A personal choice, he says. He explains, “I felt there were things I needed to work on within myself. It wasn’t out of bitterness.” What were the changes he felt he needed to incorporate?

“I thought that there has to be a balance between the job of a celebrity, that of an actor and who you are as a human being. You have to find bridges between all of them.”

While many trolled the actor for the episode, a section also appreciated Khan’s chivalrous behaviour, something he has maintained since his debut with Qala (2022). Khan says he looks at the current times as a chance to transform the idea of an alpha male.

“After Gen-Z, generation Alpha has come in. It’s a great opportunity to evolve the alpha male. You can be the most macho man and still be respectful.”

Fear is not a place Babil Khan operates from. He believes in surrendering to life. In that regard, he is the polar opposite of his character Sid from his next, Friday Night Plan. But embracing a character different from oneself is among the joys of acting. Babil, who debuted with Qala (2022), decodes his second venture, saying, “I allow life to influence my decisions, and think it will take care of me. But in Sid’s case, life betrays him. In such a case, the fear is so strong that you are governed by all the things that could go wrong [and make] 80 back-up plans. Since I couldn’t relate to that thought process, I tried finding a place within me that I am truly scared of.”

Director Vatsal Neelakantan’s upcoming Netflix film revolves around two bickering brothers, essayed by Babil and Amrith Jayan, whose night out turns into a misadventure. The trailer shows Juhi Chawla as a disciplinarian mother to the two boys. To Babil, even that little nugget is divorced from his real life. “There is nothing hidden from each other at our home. You want to party? Go ahead,” he smiles, cherishing the atmosphere of honesty that producer-mother Sutapa Sikdar has built.

Asked if his brother Ayaan and he are scolded by their mother, the actor says, “We haven’t really troubled her, but she calls us namoona. She would even call Baba [the late Irrfan Khan] a namoona.”

Irrfan Khan and Sikdar were married for 25 years before he passed away in April 2020 due to cancer. With his demise, Indian cinema lost one of its finest actors, who had built a filmography that was at once awe-inspiring and unmatched. Visibly emotional about his parents’ love-filled relationship, Babil says Sikdar used to be Irrfan’s strongest critic.

“He was a focused and fearless man. But I believe Baba wouldn’t have reached the level of artistic success if it wasn’t for Mumma. She is an excellent acting critic. I used to go to screenings with him where people wouldn’t stop raving about him, his eyes and talent. Then, we would reach home and Mumma would play the film and say, ‘Please sit, Irrfan. The decision you took in that scene is reflecting in another scene, and it’s not looking honest.’ She is a brilliant and intelligent woman, without whom Baba wouldn’t have been the actor he was.”

Babil is actively seeking to step out of his comfort zone and venture into uncharted territory as an actor. After his debut Qala, (2022) the actor is all set for his second OTT outing, Friday Night Plan. The 25-year-old has no qualms about the medium people see him on.

“I never had the desire ki mujhe big screen par hi aana hai. I just wanted to work as an actor. I want to reach the audiences and their hearts. Now, whether it’s through OTT, computers, phone or theatre, I don’t care,” shares Babil.

The actor, son of the late actor and world cinema icon Irrfan, adds that he doesn’t have too many choices at present. “Mujhe jo mila, maine kar diya. I don’t get scripts every day. Mujhe bhar bhar ke offers nahin aate hain that I can choose and decide which medium I want to work in,” he says, adding, “I give a lot of auditions and whenever I get selected, I just read the script, and if I like it, I do it irrespective of where it will release.”

The one thing he is particular about is to constantly embrace changes, as that’s integral to his craft. “I love to transition, I love to change. I will never be able to do just one thing again and again. Intense [characters] pakdo and woh hi karte raho kyunki aapko wohi aata hai — that’s not me. I hate that. I want to get uncomfortable,” says the actor.

Naturally, his next is a much “lighter and fun” project. “I wanted to bring back the joy of performing. And I found Friday Night Plan a very relatable and feel-good film. With all the mental health issues, anxiety and strange times that we are going through, this is something that you can breeze through and feel good about,” he shares.

In the film, Babil plays an 18-year-old and faced his share of challenges while getting the emotions right. “My character is scared of failure and that’s why he’s always protecting himself and planning life too much. He lost his father, and that’s the only thing I could relate to,” he divulges, calling himself totally opposite of his on-screen portrayal. “I allow life to guide me. I don’t make plans or strategise or over-analyse. I am a go-with-the-flow person,” he wraps up.

I am being lauded for them, no doubt. But I am being trolled a lot too, because I make these risky choices. That’s what fashion is these days. And not just fashion, with everything. Don’t be scared to put yourself out there. You will get trolled, but if you don’t take yourself too seriously and if you don’t make yourself feel too important from a space of ego, and then you put yourself out there, it is much more productive and you will see that there is more growth in your art because of that.

Babil Khan is ready to make a splash in Bollywood later this year with Anvita Dutt’s Qala. Even before the audience has got a glimpse of his debut film, the young actor seems to have bagged another big-ticket project. He is said to be headlining Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s next, titled Friday Night Plan. The web series, directed by Vatsal Neelakantan, went on floors over the weekend.

It is heard that the team cordoned off the area around Grand Hotel in south Mumbai for the shoot. “They filmed through the night. The makers were in talks with Babil for a long time for the project. The unit will shoot in different parts of the city over the next two weeks,” reveals a source.

Little is known about the show, which is touted to be an intense drama. The makers have been guarded, ensuring that word about the series does not get out.

Khan, meanwhile, is also giving finishing touches to his upcoming web series, The Railway Men, which is a retelling of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.