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More than his father's son

Musical legacy to an acting career, Shahbaz Khan shares it all with SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

LIFE AFTER HAIDER ALI Shahbaz Khan in the SaharaOne serial, "Suno... Harr Dill Kuchh Kehtaa Hai"

Perhaps a little known fact about actor Shahbaz Khan is his illustrious musical legacy. Yes, Shahbaz Khan of Haider Ali fame in Sanjay Khan's famous serial on Doordarshan in the 90s', Tipu Sultan, is the legendary Ustad Amir Khan's son.

"Yes, very few people know about this," says a smiling Shahbaz in his famous baritone. Waiting for his turn to be called for a shot at a Mumbai studio, Shahbaz says, "In a way I am happy that I was able to establish an identity of my own. With famous people as your parents, it often becomes difficult for their children to make a name for themselves on their own. If in the same field, they are often compared. We have many examples to prove this."

With a voice and an inheritance like his, you want to argue with Shahbaz that it is too feeble an argument for not following his illustrious father's footsteps. "But I always wanted to be an actor and so I became one," he reasons.

Shahbaz does, though, have the credit of cutting an audio album with a semi-classical score some time back.

"I have grown up with music around me and so it is natural, I guess," he says.

As a telly baddie

Seen since last April on SaharaOne's Monday-to-Thursday serial, Suno... Harr Dill Kuchh Kehtaa Hai in the role of a baddie, Shahbaz has a new get-up to play the character of Jass Singh Ahluwalia. He dons long hair, always wears a black suit with scarves and gives those menacing looks padded with heavy dialogues, ready to tear apart the lives of those he loathes.

"Yes, people always think of these kind of larger-than-life roles for me. But I am enjoying it," laughs the actor remembered by viewers particularly for his historical roles. Be it in Tipu Sultan or Chandrakanta on Doordarshan in the early `90s, Shahbaz had managed to gather a good share of fans.

"My most memorable role of course is that of Haider Ali," he says without pausing for a second to think. Recalling an incident, he shares, "Once, I had accompanied politician Balram Jakhar for an election rally in the interiors of Rajasthan. There was a huge crowd and I could hear people calling me Haider Ali. I was surprised at the popularity of the character."

Having done quite a few bad guy roles in films, Shahbaz is happy to be back to where he started from - television. "Because of films, I was away from television for quite some time but now I am back, though that doesn't mean I have left Bollywood for good," he says. Besides doing a Punjabi film, he will also be seen in a Sunny Deol production. "I am also doing a comedy called Ladies Tailor," he adds.

From July on DD

Seen in the daily Agneepath on Doordarshan some time back, Shahbaz will be on DD1 again this July. "I shall feature in yet another period serial. This time it is based on Maharaja Ranjit Singh."

Talking about the pathetic state of our daily soaps where creativity becomes the first victim, Shahbaz gets nostalgic about Doordarshan of the 1980s and early `90s. Doordarshan, a platform with the highest viewer reach, is these days seen trying to beat cable TV channels with similar tearjerkers.

"There was a time when we did some great work on Doordarshan. I myself had done a very good serial with Arif Zakaria for Kalpana Lajmi. Doordarshan needs to go back to the good old days of creative work," he comments.

Don't we all agree with him?

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