Saif Ali Khan stops in his tracks as he calls himself left-wing and liberal: ‘Shouldn’t even say these things anymore’

Actor Saif Ali Khan said that he doesn’t necessarily agree with the morality of his cop character in the upcoming film Vikram Vedha. He plays an encounter special in the film, which stars Hrithik Roshan as the villain.
Saif said in an interview with Biz Asia that it’s durbing to see encounters unfold even in movies, and checked himself as he said that he, as a person, is left-leaning and liberal in his worldview.

Describing what an ‘encounter special’ is, Saif said, “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 durbing 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 said that while Vikram Vedha, on the surface, might appear to be an ‘action, buddy cop movie’, but it ‘actually takes a look at a few things’, and has a ‘deep screenplay’.
Saif said that his character Vikram’s philosophy — breaking the law for the greater good — is ‘quite different’ from his own. “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.”
Vikram Vedha is a remake of the Tamil film starring Vijay Sethupathi and R Madhavan. It is directed Pushkar-Gayathri, who also directed the original. The remake features Radhika Apte, Yogita Bihani and Rohit Saraf, and will be released in theatres on Friday.