Bollywood icon Saif Ali Khan praised the growth of streaming services in India as a “most liberating” trend for actors as it enables them to try out their characters and roles.
The actor was speaking during a panel discussion alongside Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos at the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES). Saif Ali Khan pointed to the international coverage streaming platforms attract, saying that his Netflix content has received greater overseas attention compared to his films’ theatrical runs.
What Saif Ali Khan Said
The actor admitted to receiving more phone calls from his peers around the world for his Netflix acting ventures than for his theatrical releases. “The fact that it goes out around the world and to so many people. I get phone calls from people who wouldn’t normally call me for a cinematic release, but on Netflix, everybody rings up, people ring up from Europe and America, and so we watch this and we’re compared to the rest of the world. It’s a very, very exciting space,” said Saif Ali Khan.
Streaming Enables Actors Like Saif Ali Khan to Break the Mold
The ‘Sacred Games’ star also highlighted the advantages of streaming platforms for the actors, as they allow them to play new characters and tell new stories in films and shows.
“It’s been the most liberating thing and the most amazing thing for all actors all over the world. Earlier, we had to kind of fit into specific boxes, and there was a formula, a look, a style for the kind of thing you had to do. Today, thanks to streaming, we can explore characters in a very different way and go into much more depth, and it is a fantastic platform to showcase all kinds of things like long-form storytelling,” said Saif Ali Khan.
Cinema and Streaming Can Coexist
Addressing the coexistence of cinema and streaming, Sarandos reaffirmed that theatrical releases still hold value.
“Cinemas are not outdated. Streaming and theatres are not competitors. They can move ahead coexisting with each other as the market before us is huge,” he said.
Saif echoed the sentiment, adding that the most meaningful projects for him are those rooted in Indian culture.
Saif Ali Khan played the lead role in the first original Hindi series of Netflix, ‘Sacred Games’, with actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
About WAVES 2025
WAVES 2025 is India’s first global summit focused on the audio-visual and entertainment industries.
It hosts more than 10,000 delegates, 1,000 creators, 300 companies, and 350 startups, building a strong cross-sectoral network. The festival covers the whole range of media and evolving technologies, from film and OTT to AVGC-XR, comics, AI, and broadcasting.
The four-day festival kicked off on May 1 and will run until May 4.
