Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai
Mumbai, May 15: Actor Saif Ali Khan says he never had any hesitation about entering the streaming space with Netflix’s “Sacred Games”, a show he believes transformed digital storytelling in India.
Nearly nine years after portraying troubled cop Sartaj Singh in the acclaimed crime thriller series directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, Saif is once again set to appear in a police role in director Pulkit’s upcoming cop drama “Kartavya”, which premiered on Netflix India on May 15.
Recalling his decision to join “Sacred Games” in 2017, Saif said he was excited from the very beginning despite warnings from some quarters that moving from films to streaming platforms could be seen as a “demotion”.
“I wasn’t apprehensive at all. I remember we were on a holiday when the offer came through, and I was very excited. There couldn’t have been a better show to begin with,” Saif said in an interview.
The actor said he viewed “Sacred Games” as India’s equivalent of the global success achieved by Netflix’s “Narcos”.
“Netflix had just finished ‘Narcos’, which had become an international phenomenon. We also hoped that telling an Indian story on a global platform would be something special,” he said.
Saif stressed that he never considered streaming platforms inferior to cinema and believed the medium had the potential to deliver high-quality storytelling with a more intimate viewing experience.
“The idea was to create content with the best possible quality. I never felt this was inferior to the big-screen experience. Netflix changed the game by bringing cinematic storytelling to personal devices,” he added.
The actor also praised writers Varun Grover and Smita Singh for staying faithful to Vikram Chandra’s bestselling novel during the adaptation process.
“We had brilliant writers who never tried to simplify the material unnecessarily. They were discussing Vasco da Gama and complex themes, and I felt completely at home intellectually,” Saif said with a laugh.
Known for his love of reading, Saif said he was already familiar with the novel before joining the project and enjoyed portraying the layered character of Sartaj Singh across both seasons of the series.
The actor also shared a personal anecdote involving his son Taimur Ali Khan.
“Just yesterday, Taimur picked up the ‘Sacred Games’ book in the school library and said, ‘Look, this is such a big book!’,” Saif recalled humorously.
“Sacred Games” is widely regarded as one of the landmark series that helped establish India’s streaming industry on the global stage.