When Saif Ali Khan said he has 3 questions for Sara Ali Khan’s groom to-be, but money trumps all: Looking back at his most unfiltered moments

Actor Saif Ali Khan is always witty, and ready with his candid, and sometimes brutally honest opinions. Be it his appearances on Koffee With Karan, or when he hosted Temptations Awards with Shah Rukh Khan — or just generally his interviews, Saif has always managed to impress with his poker-faced humour. He’s always been straight-forward about his career trajectory, which has seen innumerable ups and downs—and though he’s one of the Khans in the industry, he has emphatically believed that he isn’t in the league of SRK and Aamir Khan, though his fans would vehemently disagree.
Over the years, Saif has produced some iconic quotes about himself. On his birthday, here’s looking at a few:

When he was honest about the 80s and 90s
Saif Ali Khan and Kajol in Hameshaa (Photo: YouTube)
Saif Ali Khan emerged as a star in the flamboyant 90s with hits such as Yeh Dillagi, Hum Saath Saath Hain, and a string of flops that included Parampara and Hameshaa. Saif once said, “I just didn’t know what was going on in the 90s. They’re definitely not the best decades of Hindi cinema. I had no clue or idea about what I was doing. I just didn’t fit into that era. I learned much later.”
When he was self-aware about the box-office successes of his films
Shah Rukh Khan with Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan. (Photo: Express Archive)
Saif Ali Khan had candidly said, “I wouldn’t call myself a superstar. Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh and Salman are superstars because their films make Rs 200-300 crore. My films don’t make that kind of money at the box office. Just that my surname is theirs, but my box office isn’t.”
When he called himself a ‘fish-and chips’ kind of guy
Saif had called Shah Rukh an “emperor” and an “ambitious actor.” “Very wide-sweeping scale of how he sees the world. I am really like a fish-n-chips guy compared to him. He is like an emperor.”
When he didn’t hold back from trashing his film Humshakals
Humshakals in 2014 was a huge flop, but somehow the jokes about the Sajid Khan film don’t stop. Saif had said, “I feel I should have lened to the script of Humshakals more carefully and told Sajid what I felt, which I didn’t do. I think the film should have been funnier. Unfortunately it wasn’t. The jokes and humour weren’t very funny.”
When he questioned Sajid Khan’s decisions for Humshakals 
In Humshakals, Saif was seen in a drag avatar — something he has never recovered from, clearly. In a recent interview, Saif told Kusha Kapila,  “Sajid, what did he do to us? What is this running? It is hideously embarrassing.”
When he joked about his daughter Sara Ali Khan’s marriage
Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan get clicked with father Saif on his birthday. (Photo: Varinder Chawla)
During Koffee With Karan, Saif revealed the questions he would ask Sara’s potential fiance. He noted, “Political views, drugs and views on infidelity. ” KJo intervened, “Money would be a good question to ask.” At this point Saif said, “Got cash? Take her!”
When he made his priorities clear about Kartik Aaryan dating Sara Ali Khan
During the Rapid Fire, Sara revealed that she would like to date Ranbir Kapoor, but marry Kartik Aaryan. Saif asked, “Does he have money?” Later he reiterated, “If you have money, take her!”
When he said that he wasn’t ‘all there’
In an old interview, Saif was asked about his interest in poetry and if he has a favourite poet. At first, Saif had said, “Hann (ya) Faiz and Ghalib.” He then laughed and said, “I am talking totally rubbish. Meri dadi padti thi, mere abba padte hai. Ye koi umar hai in cheezon ko padne ka (My grandmother used to read them and my dad reads them. Is this my age to read such things)?” He added in Hindi and English, “I’ve read a lot of western poetry as I studied there. But my father says that Faiz is a phenomenal poet.”
When asked about the old interview, Saif had told Zoom, “I think I’m on medication in that, let’s call it medication. I look like I’m on medication but I’ve done so many interviews that I think I’ve been medicated on some of them. I’ve not been completely mentally all there sometimes. At a certain age, you should be unpretentious and simple which I see in young Ibrahim (his son Ibrahim Ali Khan) also and I think that’s nice. But to have the same attitude at a later age in life is not necessarily correct.”
He also added, “So I’m very proud of that interview because that’s who I was. It’s unpretentious. I think I’ve been down to earth and quite a chill person…Now I’m much more pretentious because there’s an age for it. You certainly can’t be honest all the time to all the people, it would be very foolish. It doesn’t work, I’ve seen people try and do it, nobody really appreciates it, beyond a point. You might get in trouble as well.”