Actor Babil Khan, all set for his next release Logout on Zee 5, wherein he plays the role of an Influencer, sat down with The Quint on the sets of a marketing shoot for the film. The actor spoke about being trolled, why comparisons to his father 'hurt him', carving a place for himself and not filling someone else's shoes, his mother's statements about his mental health being misconstrued, being inspired by Jaideep Ahlawat, and more.
When we asked the Qala actor about his characters being layered with complex human emotions and why he chooses them, he said, "I choose characters that I feel are far from me."
"The upbringing that I have had, is that there is every shade inside me. All the darkness we don't accept within ourselves and stifle that to survive I the society. So, I chose people who I don't associate with at all, so I can explore a place which is uncomfortable for me."Babil Khan, Actor
On being asked about his mother's statement about his mental health being affected by comparisons to his father, he said, "That was taken out of context."
He further spoke about why the comparison 'hurts' him, "It will be unfair of me to presume that I wont be compared to my father. It hurts because I want to be myself and I want to show that I am a completely different person and I am not here to fill anyone else's shoes."
The actor said he would be doing a 'dishonour' to himself if he tried to do that, "The way people love him. it makes me want to get up and give back."
Babil says he is inspired by Jaideep Alhawat's journey, and compared it to his father, late actor Irrfan's.
"You can say positive things about my fathers performance but you can't describe it in words. What his performance makes you feel is intangible. When someone can make you feel something intangible, that's them most beautiful effect of art and Jaideep does it extremely well."Babil Khan, Actor
Babil also shared what he learnt from working in Logout and recalled a story from the sets of Maqbool, "In Maqbool my father tried to change the lines and that killed the lines. Sometimes you have to do the craft of it and not improvise. Improvisation is for the story and not for the actor, and I learnt that while working in Logout."
Logout, directed by Amit Golani and written by Biswapati Sarkar, also stars Rasika Dugal, Nimisha Nair, and Gandharv Dewan. The film, produced by Posham Pa Pictures and Digital 18 Media Pvt. Ltd, is slated for release on 18 April on Zee5.