Thaindian News

By Joginder Tuteja
Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS) His “Love Aaj Kal” has completed 50 days at the box office and has earned more than Rs.65 crores (Rs.650 million) just within India. Now actor-producer Saif Ali Khan is looking forward to “Kurbaan” - a film he admits he is proud of having acted in being a Muslim.

“As a Muslim I feel proud of the fact that I have done this film. This is one of the most socially relevant films today. It is good that it is coming at just the time when our country needs cinema like this,” Saif told IANS in an interview.

Set in the US, “Kurbaan” is a romantic thriller with terrorism as its backdrop. A Karan Johar production directed by debutant Rensil D’Silva, “Kurbaan” also stars Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Dia Mirza, Kirron Kher and Om Puri. It is slated to release Nov 27.

Saif reveals that he now has a new career plan in place. “I would now be working on two-three films a year and make sure that I cover a wide spectrum. While a couple of them would be big, nice commercial films, another would be a relatively smaller film that can be completed in 30 days flat.”

After “Love Aaj Kal”, his next production venture is “Agent Vinod”. But shooting for the film is still a little distance away.

“Final touches on the script are being given and we have been looking at getting the best technicians on board. I guess by the end of this year, we should begin shooting.

“In any case I am in no tearing hurry to ready my next film. One should space things out, invest good time to publicise things and get the right preparation in place for the making of the film,” said Saif.

He is also careful that his personal life, especially his health, doesn’t suffer due to his professional commitments.

“It is of paramount importance that one looks after the body as well as brain. I go to the gym regularly as well as spend some good time with family. As far as work is concerned, I have certainly become even more serious about production after ‘Love Aaj Kal’.

“We have learnt quite some lessons after the release of our first film and the idea is to leverage from some mistakes that we may have made. My investment as a producer is bound to increase from here on.”

Meanwhile, the success of “Love Aaj Kal” and “Race” (2008) have made it closer for him to the top-five league. While Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan are firmly placed in the top league, Saif too is not that far away.

“I don’t know much about that. All such number placements are for other people to state, study and analyse. As for me, I know today that I’m in a position to make the film that I want to make. I am also confident that the film I would make will carry some meaning to people. My project should now carry certain amount of weight and direction and for that one has to be a bankable star.”

He continues to shrug away the entire numbers game.

“This number business is quite fluctuating actually; so one should not be worried about it. What you should worry about more is that now since people have higher expectations from you, you should deliver even better in your next assignments,” Saif said.

(Joginder Tuteja can be contacted at joginder_tuteja@rediffmail.com)