Ever since the beginning of his Bollywood career, Saif Ali Khan has featured in around 50 films as a leading man. However, Rangoon is the first ever instance when he is actually stepping into the period era. While most of his films has him playing a suave urban man in the current times, Saif Ali Khan has been transported into the 1940s by director Vishal Bhardwaj for Rangoon.
“In fact it is rather surprising that no one ever thought about this in the past, even though the kind of looks and persona that Saif Ali Khan comes with, he fits straight into the bygone era,” comments an observer, “Royalty comes naturally to him and unlike many other actors where you have to put in a lot of effort to make them look like someone from the 50-60-70 years back, Saif Ali Khan can just walk on the sets, groom himself a little as per those times, and get ready to face the camera.”
Considering the fact that Rangoon is set in the time when World War II was on and the story about a filmmaker, his muse (Kangna Ranaut) and a soldier (Shahid Kapoor) had to be told, there was quite some thought that went behind getting the right names for the part.
“Saif Ali Khan, with whom Sajid Nadiadwala has already worked with in Phantom, was the chosen one for the part without much ado,” an insider reveals, “He has the right style quotient, body language, dialogue delivery and the mannerisms to go with the 40s. As a matter of fact Vishal Bhardwaj took it upon himself to present Saif in this avtar, especially after having directing him in an altogether diverse Omkara where he played the part of ‘Langda Tyagi’.”
Saif Ali Khan was more than excited to adapt as well.
“He has gone back in time for films like Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta and Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal (where he played the younger version of Rishi Kapoor). However, the farthest that he went there was the 60s. That doesn’t quite count as a period era. As a matter of fact in Sanjay Gupta’s Hamesha, where he had a double role, he had played a 70s youngster. Rangoon is the first time when he has travelled back into the pre-Independence era,” the insider adds.
Given the fact that he is coming across as a complete natural already (if promos are any indication), one looks forward to his classy portrayal once Rangoon releases all over next Friday.
