Saba Azad — Bollywood actress, singer, model, and voice artiste — is hitting the headlines big-time right now. As the star of Crime Beat, a new streaming show, Saba is getting to do what she likes best: less of the same, and more of the new.
In a conversation with Connected to India, she shows disarming candour when she talks about her career and choice of roles. “In all honesty, I think, actors as a breed of people are at the mercy of people imagining us in a particular role,” she says.
Saba has no hesitation in admitting that she was “not getting a lot of commercial work” earlier, but she was able to wait for what challenged her, because her career is a diversified one.
“[Choosing challenging roles] wasn’t a rebellious thought; it was a very hungry thought,” says the star of Crime Beat, a show based on investigative journalism, streaming on Zee5. “I didn’t want to do more of the same thing… I really want to do something that challenges me.”
Now, she is “on a kind of a roll”, getting the parts that she has never done before, parts that whet her curiosity.
The script of Crime Beat, based on the bestseller The Price You Pay by journalist-turned-writer Somnath Batabyal; the first opportunity to work in a crime thriller; the involvement of director Sudhir Mishra, “a legend”; and a chance to reunite with her “buddy” Saquib Saleem — all of these factors made Saba feel that she could not let this project go.
Even as Saba, who began performing at the age of four, climbs the rungs of career success, she does not want to be the actress who has “arrived”.
“The moment you think you’ve ‘arrived’ as an actor or a performer, you’re… done!” she says with her characteristic energy. “I don’t think I’ll ever ‘arrive’ till the day I die.”
Enjoy the full conversation with the unique Saba Azad on the YouTube channel of Connected to India.
