Saif Ali Khan: Sad that people mistook my rejection of Kapoor & Sons for homophobia

Kapoor & Sons garnered praise from both audiences and critics alike for its compelling story and wonderful performances. But getting the film made seemed to have been quite a task for its makers, with a number of popular actors reportedly having said no to the role that was eventually essayed by Fawad Khan. Saif Ali Khan had been one of the stars who were offered a part in the film. The star, who since seems to regret turning down the role, opened up about how people mistook his decision for homophobia.

According to a report in The Current, Saif had opened up about the same in an earlier interview, where he said that he was in no way a ‘petty’ or someone with a ‘narrow-minded mentality’. Talking about how ‘liberal’ he was in his views, Saif said that he would love to play a gay character at some point in his career. The actor argued that he did not feel like he had a ‘particularly macho image’ among audiences and that he was not afraid of not being perceived as so either.

On rejecting Kapoor & Sons, Saif said that the reason he had said no to the film was because he did not think it was the right film for him to do at the time. When producer Karan Johar and director Shakun Batra approached him with the film, Saif just did not feel like doing the film. “It’s very sad if people have perceived my rejection of Kapoor and Sons as something to do with homosexuality, something that I wholeheartedly support”, he said.

Saif added that everyone makes mistakes like that at one point. The actor also said that another decision he regretted was saying yes to Humshakals, which he called ‘horrible’.

Kapoor & Sons is available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.