Bakhtiyaar Irani, who plays one of the Hindi learning students, in Alt Balaji’s remake of the cult nineties show, Zaban Sambhal Ke, did not take our question on double meaning dialogues, as seen in the promo, in his stride.
“When you have unnecessary fu***** in Sacred Games (Netflix), it is ok? Also, Nawazuddin Siddiqui is called a good actor for spewing expletives. Yet you only target us for vulgarity, why? Also, you need to understand what kind of lingo will be used if you have a po*n star character visiting,” says this younger brother of TV and film star, Delnaaz Irani.
“All said and done, the TG of web is 15-22, and we all were the naughtiest at this age,” he says, talking about digital audiences.
“The best part of web is that it not only gives you creative freedom in terms of language, but it also frees you from censorship restriction i.e. if Sacred Games was a movie, it would get an A certificate, thereby depriving it of enough eyeballs, while anybody can watch it on web.”
On the show, he says, “I was more than happy when approached for this show. Today, although there are a host of heavily promoted new TV shows coming up, yet no one remembers any. On the other hand, just a mention of ZSK is enough to light a bulb. Everyone then wishes you best of luck; what more do you want?”
Bakhtiyaar does not really seem bothered about his co-stars. When asked what he feels about Sumeet Raghavan who reprised Pankaj Kapur’s teacher character, he quipped, “Nothing; I am not gay. Having worked together in Badi Doooor Se Aaye Hain for two and half years, we have a great tuning.”
He also has no clue who his co-stars and fellow student characters are. “We have just started shooting, so not much time to mix so far.”
Interestingly, Bakhtiyaar’s better half, Tanaaz, was part of the original; so what advice did she give? “Don’t take this as a normal daily soap and try to enjoy yourself, which will atomically translate on screen.”
Looking ahead, Bakhtiyaar, who has mostly dabbled in nonfiction until now (Nach Baliye, Welcome – Baazi Mehmaan-Nawaazi Ki, etc.) would next want to try his hands at a raunchy horror as negative. “Today times have changed and sexual content is no longer taboo.”
He regards his stint in Bigg Boss 3 as his best. However, he refused to comment on the current season, saying, “I don’t watch it.”
