JUGGLING BETWEEN ACTING AND BEING A GOOD DAD

ACTOR IQBAL KHAN REVEALS HIS MUSHY SIDE AND TALKS ABOUT THE THREE GIRLS IN HIS LIFE AND MORE...

- MARCUS CLAY

Iqbal Khan, more than any other actor of his caliber has managed to build a personal brand that is complex, yet compelling. After his mainstream cinema roles in the early and mid-2000s, he matured as an actor on television and moved effortlessly to the OTT platform. And he believes that he has been blessed, not only for the quality of work that has come his way but also that he was never typecast during the two decades he has been in the industry.

With his performance in Crackdown seasons 1 and 2, he has set up his own pinup status, playing the role of Zorawar Kalra, whose wife turns out to be a Pakistani terrorist and is on a mission of redemption to prove himself a patriot.

Ask Iqbal about his experience working on the sets of the high-intensity action-thriller and he says that besides being a blast, shooting the second season was a lot easier. "The role really got my creative juices going. Everything is bigger in season 2: my character, the show, and the scale have just blown up," he begins on an upbeat note. "Although season 2 is more complex than the first, shooting was a lot easier. My role was a lot meatier with more ups and downs." The season has several intense action sequences: one 4-minute sequence was shot in a dense jungle and took four days to complete, one was shot in Rajasthan, and another in Kashmir. "The action sequences were tough on us, but when we saw the footage we realised that it was all worth it." On working with director Apoorva Lakhia, he says, "He is too cool a guy. He doesn't try to be a director; he just does his work and makes sure everybody has a good time working on the sets. He is an action man and loves to make everything large, there's nothing small about him."