Is Saif The Most Articulate Khan In The  Industry?

It’s good see Saif Ali Khan  back in the reckoning with the webseries  Sacred Games. He deserves to be on the top.That’s where he belongs.

Over  different periods  of  time, I’ve interacted  with all the  three Khan superstars Shah  Rukh, Salman and Aamir. I was on very warm terms  with all three in different  time  zones. Until  major differences cropped up and things just ceased  to be  hunky-dory.

This cycle of kinship and animosity has  haunted me in most of my relationships within the film industry.

Saif  , the fourth Khan superstar is a  special case  for me. To begin with I am his mother Sharmila Tagore’s greatest fans. Even today when I speak to her my hands tremble and I gush like  a schoolboy.She laughs  off  my effusiveness , even warning me once  that  “such things” are not allowed to be said any longer.

But who can stop a Sharmila Tagore fan?  For me  Saif  was my favourite actress’ son to begin with. Then he married Kareenawith whom I’ve shared a  very warm relationship in the past. This happened much later. When I  first got to know Saif  he was going through a traumatic breakup with his first wife Amrita Singh.

Saif had a  lot to say, and at that point of time I  think he  trusted me  a  lot.The interview where he lashed out at  Amrita  was (naturally) a  sensation. Saif  was , as  expected, guilt-ridden  about the impact.

 “Did I say too much? Should I have been  more restrained  in my comments ?After all she is  my  children’s mother. That will  never change.” Saif agonized, as  only Saif  can, after  the  interview was a headline-grabber.

I assured  him it was fine . He needed to have his say. Then came his relationship with Rosa(where is she now?). That too didn’t end too well. Saif was  looking for something in  his Significant Other. He found that  person while shooting for VijayKrishna Acharya’s Tashan in Ladakh.  We could Saif-ly say that the one good thing which came  out of Tashan was Saif’s relationship with Kareena(which is  more than what the  director’s  demoniacal  dud  Thugs  Of Hindostan has to redeem itself).

 I think Saif is more at peace with Kareena than he has ever been. The restlessness, the fidgeting  , the constant  uncertainty is gone.This is the most selfassured  phase  of Saif’s life. We saw how much at peace he was with his daughter the very lovely  debutante Sara Ali Khan on  Karan Johar’s show.

As I watched him look so relaxed  with his daughter I remember my first meeting with Saif at his well-appointed  apartment.He  met me warmly led me into the study, said he will back in a while….and forgot  I was waiting there.More than an  hour later he emerged, all apologetic.

I  wrote a  bitchy column on this encounter . I think he  must have read it.Looking back I can laugh at  the  episode.I  feel  I shouldn’t have  been less intolerant of the  wait. Because at the end  of the day, Saif means no harm to anyone.  He is one of the most affable well-adjusted  individuals in the entertainment  business.

He has evolved not only as a  human  being but also as  an actor. His performance  in Baazaar is  his  best to date. So what  if it didn’t work? The boxoffice is never a trustworthy mistress. In the way  he  looks,  his  genteel manner and the fluctuations on  his career Saif is the millennial’s Shashi Kapoor who  incidentally was Saif’s mom’s favourite co-star.

Amd Saif is  now married to a gorgeous woman from Shashi Kapoor’s family. Saif’s son Taimur is  now a  bigger star thanSaif and  Kareena  put together.  This is one Khan whom Saif can’t compete with.