Saqib Saleem: When work was shut, I started wondering if I’d forget acting; there’s no feeling better than being on a set

Actor Saqib Saleem feels alive when he is exploring the life of a character on a set, and he is glad that he is back on set to experience it. And that explains his busy schedule these days. In fact, he even had a working birthday yesterday as he is stationed in Goa for the next 45 days shooting an unannounced project.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better apart from having a working birthday. I’ll be honest with you, I’m a better person when I’m working,” says Saleem, who turned 33 on April 8.

The actor continues, “We aren’t working for 365 days in a year, and work for almost 200 days. So, I would say that I’m a better person on those 200 days than I am on the rest of 165 days. For me, it was very important for my sanity to get back on set.”

To Saleem, it is simply a liberating experience. “There is no better feeling than being on a set. When work was shut, I started wondering if I would forget acting. Singer ka riyaaz subha hota hai, aur humara set pe. I started having thoughts that I am out of practice. That fear was seeping in my mind. Now, I am so glad that things are back on track,” says the actor, who has opted for diverse roles lately, from a RAW agent in Crackdown to horror comedy, Kakuda.

Ask him why skip birthday bash then, and he quips, “Ab birthday ki itni khushi nahi hoti jo tab hoti thi jab mein 20s mein tha. Now, it feels ke budhe ho rahe hain hum”.

Here, he calls growing a sham, and thinks he has matured instead of growing up. “And I want my friends and family to vouch for it. But I genuinely feel that I have become better from what I was in my 20s,” says Saleem, who thinks it is reflected in his work now.

“I read somewhere that an actor is all about the kinds of choices the actor makes. I really resonate with that thought. If you think you’re a good actor, you think you’re and then show it to the people. I hope it shows in my work too. I am really trying to push the envelope and try to do different kinds of parts, so that my choices tell people the kind of actor I want to be,” he wraps up.