Page 6 - December 2020 Digital full

streaming platforms provide artists with an SAIF ALI
Actor Saif Ali Khan says unlike films, the digital

“egalitarian” environment where everyone is

treated as an equal. KHAN
Khan was one of the first mainstream Bollywood OTT PLATFORMS ARE
stars to enter the digital medium with Netflix’s

Sacred Games in 2018. MORE EQUAL THAN
The actor said since OTT platforms do not provide
viewership numbers, it helps people in judging a
film or a series purely on its merit. HIERARCHICAL FILM SETS
“It’s wonderfully liberating not to be bothered by Which is there because it’s a capitalist world,”
the box office, which naturally controls creativity
quite a lot. The audience decides what they want
he added.
to see and who becomes a star. A star commands
Khan said the industry is currently undergoing
a certain opening day number. Your price tag is
based on market value. But to have an egalitarian
the length of a film to its release, is being
environment is always good,” said Khan. big changes, where every notion, from
challenged.
The 50-year-old actor received massive acclaim The Tanhaji actor said one can compare a film
for the show, which also featured Nawazuddin
to a novel and a short film to a poem but that

Siddiqui. doesn’t mean that a poem is any easy to write.
Khan said the duo were “equals” on set and were “Today, the world is changing and I don’t
competing with each other for the betterment of
know where people would look for their
the project, with no industry-set hierarchy. entertainment. Cinema halls are no more the
“When Nawazuddin and I do a ‘Sacred Games’, only place where people are watching films.
It’s exciting that notions are being challenged
we must behave like equals and on the same kind
and is always a good thing to be a part of.”
of level as everybody else. It’s a more egalitarian
atmosphere there. Whereas, a film’s set tends to
Khan said as an actor, he has never restricted
be a bit more hierarchical based on who you are.
himself to any medium as he does not believe
in the idea that a Hindi film actor is only meant
for the big screen.
The actor said if people feel that he is pushing
himself out of his comfort zone, it’s also
because of the changing landscape of Hindi

films today.
“There’s a movement going on, things are
exploding in Bollywood. Filmmakers are
pushing, trying, and raising the bar. If you’re
an actor right now, you’re going to be a part
of the change as well. It’s not really me who’s
trying to go out of my comfort zone. The
makers themselves are doing it. All you’ve to
do is agree to be a part of their vision and
have the imagination to go along with it,” he

added.

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