Having spent two decades in the industry, there is only one thing Saif Ali Khan rues — the fact that he hasn’t been able to spend enough time with his children Ibrahim and Sara. He confesses that now that Sara is growing up, he’s also turning into a protective father. Saif says, “I recently met one of Sara’s boyfriends and that’s when I felt strangely protective but not overtly so. Having been in a boarding school you realise that everyone has their own life and you learn to let go. The kids shouldn’t feel burdened; if you respect each other’s space then the relationship is enjoyable. But I haven’t been spending enough time with Ibrahim and I feel bad about that.”
His wife Kareena Kapoor Khan recently said that she is no hurry to start a family. When quizzed about the same, Saif laughs and says, “Yes, I have signed a no-pregnancy pact with her.” On a serious note he adds, “I feel we still have time to plan a family. We should be in a space where we can give time, attention, and love to a third person in our life. Right now both of us are working at a hectic pace”
Saif also dismisses rumours that he had advised sister Soha not to marry till 40. “I must have said that as a joke. Kunal is a wonderful guy and I definitely want them to get married soon. But Soha and I, though we live next door, don’t meet each other as often, as I would like to. So we haven’t had a conversation about this of late.”
While mother Sharmila Tagore and Soha have made their mark in Bengali cinema, Saif says he doesn’t have any intention to do regional films. In fact he is worried about the fate of regional cinema. He says, “My mother is a Bengal tigress and I’m proud of her work. Honestly, I’m worried about the fate of regional cinemas. We should have better cultural infrastructure — one that would give hope to small films. Maybe separate, smaller theatres for regional films would help. I was happy to do Parineeta, that is the closest I would come to being in a Bengali film.”
His latest film 'Bullett Raja' has just hit the theatres and Saif loves the fact that the medium of comics has been used to promote his character. He reveals that he has fond memories of being a fan of comics as a child. He says that it was his father, the late Mansoor Khan Pataudi who introduced him to comics. Saif says, “When I was a child, my dad introduced me to comics. I was lying on the bed with chicken pox when dad brought me Amar Chitra Katha, Mahabharata and a few others. From there on he introduced me to international comics. These characters changed my life.”
The actor also adds that he is now ready to move out of his comfort zone, which is rom-coms. He says, “A film like Bullett Raja is something I haven’t done before. It has this raw action. I have done 'Race' and 'Race 2' but that had international style action. This is very desi. I feel I am ready to experiment, I had been sticking to my comfort zone of rom-coms for a long time but now I want to try new things.”
