Maryam Farooqui Moneycontrol News
As the son of the legendary Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan may not have had a particularly enviable career graph in Bollywood. But his latest eight-episode Netflix web series, Sacred Games, released just a month before his 48th birthday on August 16, has given him his moments of glory.
Some of Khan's last few movies like Kaalakandi and Chef faltered at the box office. While Kaalakandi could collect only Rs 4.78 crore of the budget of Rs 18 crore, Chef collected Rs 6.23 crore of the Rs 31-crore budget.
In fact, in the last decade, he had a series of poor performers with only a sprinkle of hits. Of 11 releases during the period -- Happy Ending, Rangoon, Phantom, Humshakals, Bullet Raja, Go Goa Gone, Agent Vinod, Aarakshan, and Kurbaan, only three -- Race 2, Cocktail, and Love Aaj Kal -- could strike a chord with the audiences.
The ripple effect of the box office failures has been a waning brand value. Offers for brand endorsements have been few and far between.
However, the gamble of trying his hand at a different medium with Sacred Games has paid off. The turban-clad Sartaj Singh, a sidelined cop of the Mumbai Police, the role played by Khan in the web series, is like a fresh breath of air — both to Saif Ali Khan’s career and to the audience.
And audiences are in for a treat as the highly-acclaimed series will come back for a second season and Khan’s Sartaj will be there too.
And Saif Ali Khan has two more things to look forward to. One is his next release Baazaar and the other is his own clothing line. While the latter has not been confirmed by the actor yet, reports suggest the brand will be named ‘The House Of Pataudis’, with the tagline, ‘Royalty shouldn’t be a luxury’ and his wife Kareena Kapoor will be the brand ambassador.
Although the actor is way past his prime as per trade pundits, there is no denying there could have been no better bet than ‘Sartaj’ to resurrect Saif Ali Khan.
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