Heeramandi Premiere: Fardeen Khan Says, 'It's A Blessing We Have Been Able To Move Away From Confines Of Commercial Cinema' | EXCLUSIVE

Fardeen Khan is back with a bang! After a long career break, the Fida star is making his big comeback with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's debut web series, Heeramandi (Netflix). In a tell-all exclusive interview with Zoom, Fardeen spoke at length about how he has utilised—and the lessons he has learnt—during this hiatus, explained why the boom of OTT platforms, especially Netflix, is actually a 'blessing' for actors, and revealed his true feelings around Bollywood's paparazzi culture.

Edited excerpts from our chat with the star:

You know one has to be grateful to platforms like Netflix, you know, they've literally in terms of creating the long-form format, have really changed how stories are told, you know, they literally, I mean, today's films, you know, whether they're Miniseries or whether they have multi seasons, I mean, they're comparable to sophisticated literature, you know, because the writers really get a chance to flush out their characters. And as a viewer, you know, you really, really get to engage with them and see the humanity in every aspect.

And it's actually made it difficult for me to watch your two-hour commercial film now. You know, it has to be really, really well written to do that. So I mean, it's, I mean, for an actor, of course, you know, it gives you the chance to really dig deep in this in this format. And, of course, I mean, for me, coming back after such a long gap, you know, I mean, I was very cut off. And, you know, just, I've used, you know, this time to learn, the landscape is different, you know, the audiences have changed, you know, the whole style of filmmaking is changed field language has changed us to a certain degree.

And, of course, I think, you know, in so many ways, it's such a blessing that, you know, we've been able to, with technology, been able to move away from the confines of commercial cinema, you know, it's a great time for writers, directors, actors, you know, and we're exploring all kinds of stories. I mean, we live in, you know, the largest democracy in the world. And, you know, I mean, it's, there are many, many stories out there, and it's so wonderful to see all these stories being told and it's a great time.