Saif Ali Khan on playing Raavan in Adipurush: 'I do have ten heads at a point'

Actor Saif Ali Khan has spoken about playing Raavan in his upcoming mythological movie Adipurush. He said that essaying the character with ten heads 'is one of the cool things' about the film for him. He also said that for the character everything comes from vanity.

The film, produced by Bhushan Kumar's T-Series and directed by Om Raut, is a cinematic adaptation of the Indian epic Ramayana. It also features Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, and Sunny Singh. The movie is slated for a theatrical release on August 11, 2022.

In an interview with Film Companion, Saif said that the character of Raavan will be 'larger than (he is)'. "There will some trickery involved...But a lot of it is real in the sense that they want us to train...look particularly tough. All that stuff is normal but that's really not the main thing. The point is he (Raavan) is India's kind of Satan, he's the demon king and I guess what drives him...I was trying to find a way into doing this and I think that the thing is vanity, the personification of vanity, so everything comes from there. Everything - the boons that he prays for, the kingdom that he wants. His whole outlook is just incredibly clouded, blind and vain. He's a monster and he's strong and fun to play in that sense," he said.

"But the whole point of the story, in a way, psychologically, really, is overcoming the monster. That's what the story is about. It's about Lord Ram overcoming him and the stronger he is, the more of an achievement it is for the hero. So he's dressed up in dazzling clothes and he's got an array of weapons and he's got a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill and power but he's vain and he says some outrageous things. But it's a big thing to play the main bad guy right? And I'll tell you one thing, though, I do have ten heads at a point which is one of the cool things," he added.

Saif was last seen in Tandav, an Amazon Prime series. His upcoming movies also include Bhoot Police and Bunty Aur Babli 2. He made his Bollywood debut with the 1993 film Parampara. He has also starred in films like Hum Tum, Dil Chahta Hai, Omkara and Ek Hasina Thi.