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Fardeen Khan made a comeback to the showbiz with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Netflix India period drama Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar and Mudassar Aziz’s dramedy Khel Khel Mein last year and Tarun Manshukhani’s ensemble whodunit comedy Housefull 5 this week. But like several second-generation actors of his generation, the first few years were rather rough.
“Of course, it was tough. Criticism was harsh,” said Fardeen, reflecting on the box office failure and negative reviews of his debut film, his late father Feroz Khan’s 1998 romantic drama Prem Aggan. “People I was suppose to be working with in my next few projects changed their mind and pulled out of the projects. Money had to be returned. It was really a good chance to sit back and think,” added Fardeen.
On the Cyrus Says podcast, Fardeen recalled Feroz Khan gave him an ultimatum after the Prem Aggan flopped. “He said, ‘We tried, we failed.’ I’m putting a roof over your head for one year. I’ll pay you an X amount of money every month. After that, you’re on your own,” said Fardeen, adding, “It was a beautiful call. He said I’ve sent you to one of the best universities of the world. I hope you’re prepared to deal with life. This is how life is.”
Feroz Khan told Fardeen that he was just 13 when his father died. His family had five brothers and a sister, and he had to take care of all of them. “He said, ‘I had a vision, I did it. Now, let’s see what you’re made of.’ It was as simple as that. It was really what I had to hear at that time. His love was tough! That just speaks to the kind of guy he was,” added Fardeen.
Fardeen confessed he was more interested in filmmaking than being in front of the camera. But after coming back from film school abroad, his father decided to launch him as an actor in Prem Aggan. “I had a director who was just not my father, but also an iconic actor. So you’re just worried about not getting it wrong. You bury the pressure and put it away, especially in cases like mine whose father is so iconic in so many ways. If you think about that, you’re finished. You just try and be honest to yourself and the written word on the script. And you try not to mess it up,” he said.
Fardeen also recalled that while he wasn’t interested in acting but people around his father encouraged him to launch him. “He is right there, launch him,” Fardeen recalled.
Fardeen also reasoned that those days, actors used to shoot on film instead of digital. “It was a huge part of the budget. It was just about not doing anything wrong and going with the process. I had no say in the dialogues or the script because I hadn’t earned my stripes in any way,” said Fardeen. Fardeen followed Prem Aggan with Ram Gopal Varma’s 2000 survival thriller Jungle. Fardeen was 35 when Feroz Khan passed away in 2009.
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