Saif Ali Khan calls himself 'liberal, left wing’, but says he ‘shouldn’t say such things anymore today'

Saif Ali Khan has called himself liberal as he doesn't agree with a counter specialist. He plays a cop in Hrithik Roshan's upcoming Vikram Vedha.

Saif Ali Khan in a new interview talked about how he doesn’t agree with the thoughts and principles of his character in Vikram Vedha. In the film, he plays the role of an encounter specialist Vikram while Hrithik Roshan as Vedha stars as a gangster. Ahead of the release, Saif said that it can be disturbing to witness encounters in films and called himself a left-leaning person with liberal views.

Saif Ali Khan as Vikram in Vikram Vedha.

Vikram Vedha is the Hindi remake of the 2017 Tamil hit of the same name, which featured R Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi. It’s said to be based on the Indian folktale, Vikram aur Betaal and will release on September 30. In the trailer, Saif introduces his character as the ‘good guys.’

Talking more about an ‘encounter specialist’, Saif recently told Biz Asia, “When the mafia problem was getting so out of control, there was this urban legend that we won’t show whether the ‘criminal’ was shot genuinely trying to escape, or executed, and later on, they do the paperwork to show that he was trying to escape and we had to shoot him. That’s called an ‘encounter’, a ‘fake encounter’. It’s kind of a horrific judicial… I’m sure it’s completely illegal. But it’s cinematically quite disturbing as well, and that’s kind of what my character does. But he’s convinced he’s a good guy, because (he thinks) it’s required.”

Saif also asserted that Vikram Vedha, which might appear as another action flick, will take ‘a look at a few things’ with a ‘deep screenplay’. “I’m much more… probably a bit left-wing, I suppose… I don’t know, I probably shouldn’t say these things anymore today. But yes, I’m really liberal and easygoing, and I think everyone is entitled to a fair trial before judgement. I’m certainly not for executing suspected criminals, which my character seems to love to do,” Saif further explained how he is ‘quite different’ from his character.

Besides Saif and Hrithik, the film also stars Radhika Apte and Rohit Saraf among others in key roles. It’s directed by Pushkar and Gayathri, who also helmed the original film. It’s backed by Gulshan Kumar, T-Series Films and Reliance Entertainment in association with Friday Filmworks and YNOT Studios Production.