Saif Ali Khan on 14 years of Race

Mumbai: Saif Ali Khan’s long-standing career is replete with achievements but one success that’s quite special to him is the 2008 Race, as he says that he felt “grown up” as an actor after playing a string of “chocolate boy” characters. Race opened to acclaim upon its release on March 21 and went on to […]

Mumbai: Saif Ali Khan’s long-standing career is replete with achievements but one success that’s quite special to him is the 2008 Race, as he says that he felt “grown up” as an actor after playing a string of “chocolate boy” characters.

Race opened to acclaim upon its release on March 21 and went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year. The film, fronted by Khan, also featured Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy. Race — which later turned into a franchise with two more installments released in 2013 and 2018 — chronicled the story of two half brothers, played by Khan and Khanna, caught in a web of lies, deceit and greed.

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As the suave, powerful and deceptive businessman Ranvir ‘Ronny’ Singh, Khan won praise for playing a grey character with ease. The film, along with Vishal Bharadwaj’s Omkara, is credited for showcasing a different side to the actor, who had before them featured in a series of romantic dramas and comedies like Ta Ra Rum Pum, Salaam Namaste and Parineeta.

Ahead of the film’s 14th anniversary, Khan said that the pulpy thriller happened to him at the right time in his career. “At that point, I had done a lot of chocolate boy roles and Race was different. Ranvir was a man’s role and you’ve got to be able to pull that off! So I wanted to try and that was the real challenge. You don’t want to look like you’re trying – you just have to be the guy! I had started work in the industry when I was about 20 and I had a very young face. And I had done a lot of different kinds of work. This was a time when I had grown up slightly and I felt I could shoulder this and I did shoulder it. That’s why it means something because it was a different achievement without really saying much,” the 51-year-old actor said.

Race, which Khan described as a “smart and sexy thriller”, offered him the chance to play a “responsible, quieter” role and had one crucial requirement: to have a commanding presence. “It was one of those roles where I didn’t have to do much apart from just being the guy, which also required having a certain presence. Ranvir was an opportunity to play a slightly more serious role and show a more mature side and I really enjoyed doing that. It was a more stable, responsible and quieter role. There was a certain maturity to playing Ranvir and I wanted to work with Abbas-Mustan. It worked out in a way that I ended up playing the elder brother’s role and I just really enjoyed it,” he added.

When asked if he felt the viewers, back then, were hungry for a slick-looking thriller, Khan said one is “constantly underestimating the audience”. “One of the big cliches in our line is that the audience has become very smart. I think they were always smart. Abbas-Mustan could do things that nobody did. Race was a really clever script and morality wasn’t an issue.”
The actor said he remembers the outdoor shoot of Race in South Africa vividly and recalled how he was in a “really good space” during the filming of the Ramesh Taurani-backed thriller.

Khan will be next seen in Vikram Vedha, co-starring Hrithik Roshan, and the multilingual Adipurush, featuring Prabhas and Kriti Sanon.

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