EXCLUSIVE | Irrfan Khan's son Babil Khan on cinema changing: 'We don't take enough risks anymore, we depend a lot on...'

Irrfan Khan’s son Babil stars in his new film called Logout on ZEE5. The title itself is a giveaway of what to expect. Babil plays a social media influencer who is on the brink of amassing10 million followers. His character is more successful and popular than he is in real life, which only makes the narrative more interesting.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actor spoke about the prep for his role in this thriller that’s streaming on the platform, and the social media obsession that has crept in.

Edited excerpts from the interview

How did you prepare for your role of an influencer?

There wasn’t much of a prep because the script was so tight. My job was to listen to the script, listen to the director, and surrender and not think much. But sometimes what happens is that you deny certain aspects about yourself. Accepting something that I was denying was a part of the prep.

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When do you feel social media can turn into an obsession?

When you start depending on likes and validation. When you put your self worth behind, it becomes an addiction and obsession. There’s a scientific reason behind that as well, there’s a thing called dopamine that gets released. Social media has been designed in such a way that you get addicted.

Do you see any similarities between you and the character that you’ve played?

I would like to say I’m not similar but I choose not to be. There’s desire and there’s greed and all of it. I just have to be aware of all of these qualities.

What do you have to say about the idea of Logout, an influencer whose social media account gets hacked?

There was a really comforting factor when we were doing workshops. I was taking a lot of load on my head, so my whole team supported me and said ‘We are there.’ When you feel supported, you feel a lot more confident. My director could feel that I was taking the character in my head and he used to make me laugh; I was working with a lot of pressure. Amit sir used to tell me ‘Just enjoy life.’

How much have you seen cinema change or evolve?

We don’t take enough risks anymore. We depend a lot on formula. We can evolve only if we start taking more risks.