I suppose everything is like the stock market

Saif Ali Khan talks about 'BAAZAAR' with DSIJ team in an exclusive interview.

What appealed to you to select a movie on the subject of ‘Stock Market’?
It is something new for me and it is about the stock market, but it is not so heavy that you need a great understanding. It’s not complicated. Some of these films can become complicated. So it’s simplistic in that sense but it’s still new enough. The film is actually about money and, on a deeper level, that is what the stock market is about. It’s like what money means to different people. To a rich person, why is he motivated to earn more money after he is already so rich. What does it mean to his wife? What does it mean to a struggler who is coming up? It means different things to everybody and a lot of this is an illusion. Like the ‘Wall Street’ movie I saw, an American called money a whore that never sleeps, but that’s a strong language, but I think what they mean by that is that she is pretending to be something that she is not sometimes. That is the most disturbing thing about it, so you have to find your own conclusion about what money is when you watch it. Whether it is the root of all evil or whether it is the greatest security and happiness for your children and security for your family. It’s a complicated thing and it is fun to explore. So what did I like about it? I liked the fact that it is set in that world where I get to play a Gujarati businessman and I get to play like a son, a guy who comes up the hard way, he has got a chip on his shoulder, he doesn’t respect people from Harvard and all these trust fund kind of people. So, he is an interesting guy and he is kind of very very Indian in the making and he is a mix of various personalities that we have seen in the light of the business communities. So, the main reason I was drawn to it was the powerful scenes that he gets to do and that’s what you look for as an actor.

Did it require any additional preparation to understand the market for this particular assignment from your side?
Yes, I think so, a little bit of preparation. You got to see how certain people talk and understand how the energy is. Generally, I have had a little bit of knowledge, little bit of reading of some books, little bit by Warren Buffet’s and also ”Walk down Wall Street”, which is kind of a handbook I had read a long time ago. So I’ve had a rough idea and then I’ve seen other films like ‘Wall Street" and that kind of thing. So you have an idea. Then I know people, businessmen and banker friends, so you understand a little bit of what kind of guys these are like.

Great ! Good to know you read Warren Buffet. So do you think your perspective on stock market has changed while working on the movie ?
No, not really. It’s not like that. It is the same perspective.

So what is the best part of your movie ‘Bazaar’ and why do you think investors should watch your film?
Well, I am not saying that investors should watch the film, I think people who like movies should watch the film. It is not like a documentary or something. But I hope as an investor or someone from the financial community, you won’t feel like we’re talking rubbish, because they have done some research and they have shown some things that, in fact, you might be happy that their world is being represented properly. If you do a film about a brain surgeon and if you just do some rubbish, you might offend the community..Aisa thodi hota hai..but if you get it right, then they feel okay that somebody has done some homework and made a good effort, so I hope they appreciate that.

Were you tempted to invest in stocks while you were doing the film ?
No. Of course not! I’m not gonna say, Hey! this is a good idea! But obviously I am invested in property more. My idea of security, or the illusion of security, is to have a certain amount of money coming in every month, irrespective of me working. So, I am aiming at that and part of that investment is in stocks. In fact, it has made me quite liquid. I needed a lot of money in a short time to give it to somebody at some point and the only thing we could actually liquidate at that time were our stocks. Property was taking too long, but we are invested quite securely for the long term.

So, you like the liquid nature of the equities…
No, I’m just saying that equities became useful, otherwise I’m more interested in monthly return. Because actors make money for a limited amount of time--big money for a limited amount of time--and then it becomes normal. So, the idea is to capitalise on that time and invest properly and then live comfortably on the income. So

what did you learn about an investor’s life while playing the role of a trader or investor in the current movie ‘Bazaar’?
Well, I play the role of a really rich guy, so you have to find what motivates people once you’ve already got everything...My motivations are looking after my family, reaching a level of comfort in life, so you’re still struggling to reach that. I never had so much money that there is always something. I am happy, but I wonder for a super-rich person what the motivation is, even though he has got everything. Once you’ve got a few jets and you’ve got all the money in the world and everything is looked after, what makes you want more? That is interesting..

Do you find any similarity between film industry and the financial market since you’ve worked in the movie?
Well, I suppose everything is like the stock market, everything. That is why the stock market is a metaphor for life because, like the IPL, in the movie industry, some actors are performing well, some perform badly, while some perform well in the long term, some perform well in the short term and people invest in them. They put a lot of money in an actor, they say this actor is going to be great next year so I am going to give him five crores now, or whatever, and it turns out to be a disaster. Or it turns out that you gave him one crore to block his time and now he’s performing at 100 crore, so you got him cheap.

Would you like to work again in a film related to stock market or a similar subject maybe?
Yeah, I like the business world. I think there are a lot of stories like Dallas, Dynasty, and all these TV shows which are ultimately about business families and the intrigues. So, if you can really get into what happens in a big billionaire's world, it will be quite interesting.

Any special moments while making the movie which you would like to share with us?
Yeah, I think I don’t like leaving my house anymore. I like my family..but every day I had some amazing scene to do. That is a very powerful role. I like acting. I have done films in the past where it’s normal..and now I don’t want to do anything normal, I would like to do something that is really exciting. This movie is something new..!