SAQIB SAlEEM is an actor who chooses his films carefully. He tells PRAKRITI ROY how he selects his roles, about his upcoming big releases, his love for cricket and his foray into the digital space
Saqib Saleem debuted in 2013 with Mere Dad Ki Maruti under the prestigious Yash Raj Films banner. But he is not the sorts to take the path of other newcomers in Bollywood. In the past three years, he has only done a handful of projects, each very different from the other.
His latest project is a short film for the web, Koi Dekh lega, part of the love Shots series of Y Films. As his career graph shows, Saqib never plays conventional characters and this short film too sees him play a blind guy in a sweet love story opposite Shweta Tripathi (of Masaan fame), who is also blind. Telling you why he picked up this particular project, he says, “I have known Shweta for five years now and really wanted to work with her. And, of course, there was Ashish Patil, the creative head. I owe my acting career to him and I would happily play a lamp post if he asked me to. Moreover, I love playing challenging roles. So what better than playing a blind manIJ”
Saqib says that acting was not something that he had planned for. But once he got an opportunity and he saw how much people liked him, he felt that it was his responsibility to show them quality work. “Once you know people want to see you, you can either burn yourself out by doing any number of random films or you can do work that you will be proud of even 10 years down the line. An actor does what he is offered but I really don’t want to do the mundane, everyday stuff,” he tells you.
His love for challenges is evident in his acting choices which display a lot of versatility — Mere Dad Ki Maruti, Hawaa Hawaai, Bombay Talkies. This year, he has two films lined up — Dishoom and the official remake of Hollywood film Occulus. Occulus will see Saqib sharing screen space with his sister, Huma Qureshi, for the first time. Sharing his experience of filming with her, he tells you: “We play siblings in the film and we’re already so comfortable with each other that it wasn’t much of a problem. Our styles of working are definitely different but in the end, we did what our director wanted from us.”
He describesDishoom as an action-adventure film, directed by Rohit Dhawan which also stars Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandes and John Abraham. The film will see him portraying the role of a cricketer, and being one himself, it was something right up his alley. “I have been a sportsman all my life and I really wanted to play cricket for India’s international team. But it never worked out. So when Rohit told me that my character is loosely based on Virat Kohli, it was a chance for me to fulfil my dream of at least playing cricket in a full stadium with everyone chanting my name,” he says.
The sequel of Mere Dad Ki Maruti is also in the pipeline but Saqib is clear that he, as well as the production house, doesn’t want the sequel to be disappointing to the audience. He tells you that it’s too early to talk about it yet. “But, yes, I have spent a lot of time discussing it with the producers. We hope to at least get it on the floors this year. Since the film has a good and loyal fanbase, we have to make sure that the sequel is bigger, more fun and funnier,” Saqib says. He assures you that Ram Kapoor will definitely be part of the sequel. After all, how can the dad be missing from the filmIJ
In this short span, he has got the opportunity to work with a director like Karan Johar. But he says: “I can’t wait to work with him again — he is such an intelligent director and he can make anyone act. I am also waiting for the day when Aditya Chopra will not just be my producer but director as well. And it is every actor’s dream to work with Raj Kumar Hirani and Imtiaz Ali; it would be amazing when that happens.”
Making his debut in the digital space, Saqib is confident that the next two years will see a revolution in terms of content. “It’s great that people are getting more creative in this space and the viewers are lapping it up. I go online and watch something like TVF Pitchers because this is the kind of thing we want to see. The plus point is that censorship issue isn’t there for digital content,” he says