Senior actor Shahbaz Khan is happy playing the towering personality of King Akbar in Colors’ historical show, Dastaan-E-Mohabbat: Salim Anarkali produced by Anirudh Pathak’s Writers’ Galaxy.
Says Shahbaz, “I have had a vast experience donning various historical characters in my career. Hyder Ali was a warrior while Chandrakantha was a lover. In the Great Maratha, it was the role of a great statesman. Now playing King Akbar gives me immense satisfaction. Akbar was a great King. Only three people were conferred with the title of being ‘The Great’ – Akbar, Ashoka and Alexander. So there are many shades to the role. Akbar is no doubt a strict father, but is very loving too. The only conflict between father and son was that he did not want his son to fall in love with a kaneez.”
Shahbaz is glad to be working with a stellar star cast. “Aruna Irani has played my mother in few films and TV shows. She plays my mother here too. I have a good working rapport with her. The youngsters in the show are very good and are hard-working. I am glad to be in the company of a hard-working team.”
While he is all praise for his co-actors on the set of Salim Anarkali, Shahbaz also feels that the young actors at times do get carried away. “I am talking in general about the youngsters of today being more particular about their popularity rather than work. They are more into social media and love the limelight. In our prime days, there was no social media. But we were also very popular; however, we did not let the popularity get to our heads. If you see the senior actors, they are very dedicated and down to earth.”
Talking about the content on TV, the senior actor quips, “TV content is more about historical and mythological shows in today’s times. People who want to see social concepts go to the web. Web is doing really well. I like the fact that the digital medium is very serious in its approach. I hope it maintains its seriousness for a long time. TV had great quality to begin with, but saw a decline in quality. So hope that the web platform maintains the great standard shown now.”
Shahbaz ia happy to have been getting good response for his show. “Producer Anirudh Pathak is a very good creative person. We had only one big example of Mughal-E-Azam before us. But to come up with this concept on TV was a splendid move. The production value has been great, and the show has been doing well. We hope to have a good journey.”
Way to go, Shahbaz!!