Zayed Khan eyes production for digital medium

By Radhika Bhirani

Mumbai, Jan 31 (IANS) "My name is Zayed Khan, I used to be an actor, now I am just real." That's how the son of veteran actor Sanjay Khan chooses to describe himself as he eyes a foray into production for the ever-evolving world of digital entertainment.

After a film career, which began with "Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne", followed by a popular role as Lucky in "Main Hoon Na" and subsequent projects which failed to elicit a positive response, Zayed made a TV debut with "Haasil" last year.

IANS caught up with the actor on the sidelines of the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2019 here.

At the very mention of "Main Hoon Na", he quipped: "That thing is never going to leave me."

"Main bhi hun na (I am also there)," he added with a laugh.

Asked what's up and what's new, he said: "Life, good things, things that are more important, being real is what's happening.

"My name is Zayed Khan, I used to be an actor, now I am just real."

But he still acts.

"I hope I am a realer one than I used to be," said the father of two, turning more philosophical.

"I think I am this floating piece of furniture in the middle of the ocean -- going somewhere from time to time. Sometimes I am on the shores of 'Haasil', sometimes I am on the shores of a movie, or sometimes on the shores of a fashion shoot.

"I like having lots of experiences and I like understanding lots of mediums. I think the next medium I really want to understand is the digital medium."

Without divulging more, he said: "You will be hearing about it soon. I am going to be producing."

Zayed finds the OTT medium very interesting.

"A lot of intellectuals are going to gravitate towards it. One reason being that it's the ultimate expression of freedom where you can express all kinds of innuendos which you can't do in films today.

"In the digital space, for actors especially, they have a bigger arc, bigger graph and there's more meat in the pie. So, it's a serious and a very interesting medium."

Do we see him facing the camera for a digital show?

"I told you I am a drifter... I am a furniture floating in the ocean."

What were the lessons learnt after working on the small screen?

"TV is very hard on the commitment and time level. And as wide as it goes, TV is a medium which I think is more for the younger generation people (actors) who have the time to just focus only on their work and nothing at all, and for those who can understand their craft doing one role for probably for three, four seasons.

"It's a big commitment. It takes away too much time from a lot of other things. But having said that, once you do TV, doing a film is like a walk in the park. You can do it blindly... TV prepares you. I think it's the best paid school you can go to."

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in. She is in Mumbai on an invitation by LFW organisers.)