Indian film and television actor, Saheem Khan has made the country proud by winning the best actor award for his recent feature film Ekram, in the prestigious Creation International Film Festival, Canada. Incidentally so, till date he is the only Indian actor to have received an award in the concerned category. Now the film Ekram is available for audience to watch. The Film is streaming on Hungama Play, MX Player, AirtelXtream and Vodafone play.
In addition to the above, the film Ekram, which is also the Saheem Khan’s directorial debut, not only managed to grab the jury’s attention but also went on to win the best Foreign Film award. This was in continuation with the multi-talented actor’s current winning streak, as just a month ago, his short film Khatoon Ki Khidmat, also written and directed by Khan himself had the honour of being chosen to be showcased as a part of the highly acclaimed JIO MAMI Mumbai Film festival. The film Ekram produced by Robab Khan under the banner of Mad Hat Productions and ITES Horizon Private Limited is written by Shamael Khan, with Nadeem Ansari as its cinematographer.
Saheem Khan’s performance in the movie is being specially appreciated. He is playing the role of the protagonist Ekram with an age travel from 23 to 33 years. Saheem Khan has adorned three look changes in the movie and the performances in all the age group is in meter and fabulously played, bringing out the milieu of the character when he is a carefree college student or when he is a broken man whose life has halted and his family and him trying to push it ahead somehow in a failed attempt.
The sound-track of the film is also very soothing, cinematography is apt and lighting to the point. The cinematographer has done a good job by creative a realistic cinema. The actor and director Saheem has done a tremendous job and doing justice to both the roles as an actor and as a director. Working in two roles in a tough job, but he managed to give his best of both the sides and deliver a product that is an addition to the meaningful cinemas in our country.
Belonging to a family of farmers, in the small town of Pratapgarh, Khan grew up to be a jaunty lad with a devil-may-care attitude. It was back in the year 2007, that Saheem Khan put his first foot in Mumbai. Eyes filled with starry dreams, and no back up plans, he was determined to do whatever it took to reach his goal. Khan says that his first job in the city was of a driver which he took up as a means of sustenance. However, he soon realized that the job left him no time to work upon his acting skills. Thus he switched over to being a sales executive and took up theatre in the evenings. Soon he learnt his way around and started going in for auditions. And thus started his journey through multiple auditions and a plethora of casting directors. Though he did manage to score a minuscule role in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji, in the year 2011 but his break through came in the year 2013 when he was cast as the lead actor in the feature film Chehra. However, the film failed miserably at the box office. It were the reality based television shows like Crime Patrol Satark and Savdhaan India which gave Saheem his first dose of recognition and made him a household face. In the year 2017, Khan played a major role in the Raveena Tandon starrer film Matr, which garnered him critical praise.
Moving on to his personal interests, Saheem Khan is a true Bollywood movie buff and enjoys all kinds of cinema. According to him every film teaches us something, even if that something is what not to do. However, on more serious lines, he is a great admirer of the actor Irrfan Khan and has never missed out on any of his films. Khan draws his inspiration majorly from the works of profound filmmaker Majid Majidi and hopes to achieve atleast a minute percentage of Majidi’s depth in this lifetime. He also enjoys Anurag Kashyap’s work and confesses to spending hours binge watching his films over and over again. Besides acting, which is of course his first love, Khan is very fond of writing and hopes to continue doing so in future.
Looking back, from the carefree guy in Pratapgarh, to the focused actor today, it has been quite a journey for Saheem Khan. And though, this year has proved lucky for him, Khan believes that he still has a very long road to travel ahead. The award and applause has only fueled his zeal all the more. Upon being questioned about his preference for commercial or art cinema, the actor specifically states that the only factor driving his preference is good content. The platforms of films, television or digital are not really the forward players in his decision making. Khan also states that the current era in Indian film industry is very much content driven, which makes him all the more appreciative of having got the chance to be a part of it. Currently, Saheem Khan is working for an unnamed web series under a well known production house. With a strong determination and tenacious will like his, we are sure that Saheem Khan will reach new heights and wish him all the very best for his future endeavours! Written by Shamael Khan!
