Saif Ali Khan, Rasika Dugal & Manish Chaudhari reveal why ‘Kartavya’ is a “Heroic & Moral Tale”

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]These are simple stories. Like the production house is so good. It is Shahrukh Bhai's production and he has chosen very good stories to tell and stories to film.

[00:00:13]So this is another such story like Bakhshak he made and Pulkit is a very good director.

[00:00:22]And when I read this story, I liked it very much, it can be called a heroic moral tale, it is about a normal man. The world that was shown of him was very interesting and the different types of pressures that come on him and when you put pressure on a person, then his character becomes clear and how does he react? We have made some parallels with Abhimanyu who is a character from Mahabharata, so how does he come out of this Chakravyuh and if he comes out or not, you will understand this after watching it. But I liked the story very much and the director very much.

[00:01:03]He is a very good writer and it was fun reading his dialogues and here you are in the role of a responsible police officer whose duty is to solve the problems of the society while performing his duty and after watching the trailer it seems that he is also struggling with his problems. Is this thing a problem?

[00:01:25]Yes, there is a little bit but from the trailer I think everything is clear that it is a very good trailer. Like I said, it's a simple story. But the solution that the character decides is quite different according to me. I think when everyone signs a picture and a production, what do they call it? When we come to the set one by one, we are all equal and we all respect each other as to what we are doing. Here we all have chosen the same story, this is the story, so it is the responsibility of all of us to do our part well and the rest of the time, make each other comfortable and respect each other. I think that's just normal, I read it because the basic thing is to read the script first and know the story and the character you are going to play.

[00:02:30]So I definitely read it and I liked the story very much and I really liked Pulkit's style of narration and the way he approached me for this role. A I heard that he does very good work.

[00:02:44]I had also seen Bose so I thought it would be fun to work with him and had never worked with Red Chillies. So there was excitement about that thing and I had never worked with Saif. So I always heard that he is a very good star and he mingles with everyone and is a very funny person. And that was true and more and it was very very nice to work with him.

[00:03:08]And he is also a very giving core. So, initially there is nervousness when you work with a new actor that you wonder whether we will be able to relate to each other or not and what kind of exchange will happen during the scenes but it was a very lovely feeling and a very warm feeling but of course it feels so good, yes, I am getting it repeated and [laughs] thank you, the more times you get it repeated, the better it is for me, if you do a bar cop then do you get the feeling at home too, like the uniform [laughs] yes other than a cop you get some other character. The biggest benefit I have got from this is that I do n't feel this at home obviously [laughs] but sometimes I become friends with the Mumbai police on the streets.

[00:03:55]Or they really enjoy the fact that they meet someone who places so many cops.

[00:04:03]Sometimes you get some benefit by paying the challan.

[00:04:04]Now I will not say anything about this.

[00:04:06]But all I can say is that I have a very good friendship with the policemen.

[00:04:14]Any memorable moment from this series that stayed with me. Is there any scene or something like that you would like to mention about duty?

[00:04:21]I always remember a scene from Kartavya which could not happen even though it happened. There was a scene where I was holding a press conference.

[00:04:32]You might have seen a glimpse of it in the trailer too.

[00:04:34]So my character had to say a lot in that press conference.

[00:04:37]So I felt I had to say so much and speak it fast. So I was remembering her for two-three hours and Pulkit was watching me from a distance.

[00:04:47]Then he told me that actually you do n't have to remember. But then I told him that I have remembered it now, so now I have remembered it and I will tell him.

[00:04:57]I don't want you to read this from the prescription only. [laughter] What a thing.

[00:05:02]Earlier I was telling you 2 hours ago. I did n't tell him on purpose [laughs]. I told him, you are doing it, you should remember it. Vai good. [laughter] So or so that, it was a funny moment.

[00:05:14]Pulkit had written a very beautiful scene in which Saif's character and I are Pawan and Varsha on the terrace. And that is a big turning point for him in the film. So when it was written as Manish told. It was written, he had written that Varsha is crying.

[00:05:31]Yes. So I went there very prepared that I have to shed tears in this scene. I went there. I said, Pulkit, I am ready. It's not said, I just wrote it like that.

[00:05:40]I just write it like this. Don't give him any attention. So anyway but it turned out well because the intent of the scene was that. There were many scenes. But the scenes with Manish ji in the police station were also very memorable. Because we always find him a very interesting and lovely character. He is dangerous but I don't understand whether we should be scared or laugh sometimes or you know he is a very enjoyable character so it was a lot of fun doing scenes with him.

[00:06:12]And Rasika ji's role is the emotional core of the film. So it was a lot of fun doing scenes with him. Pulkit is a very good writer. So I actually liked all the scenes like this.

[00:06:26]This film, that is, the way of working in this film was a little different because it was an independent film like Atmosphere, everyone was working more than their duty. Like I helped Anil Mehta ji who is our DOP in pasting some lights on the car, he had to paste paper on the lights and he had less helpers there so I was also pasting them, we were talking at 4:00 in the morning, then we had to wait because we were shooting a scene near a bridge, it was a very good location and a train was about to come there, a long train, two trains on two tracks, one coming and one going, so waiting for that shot, waiting for that shot, it was very satisfying for me that when you watch the film, it looks like such a beautiful big picture but it was not so expensive, there should be just a passion, there should be an interest that we all are standing there waiting at 4:00 in the morning for the train to come and if we give this shot then it looks great. So hello. I am Saif Ali Khan and our film Kartavya is coming only on Netflix from May 15th.

[00:07:49]Thank you very much. We wish you all the best when you talk to us.

[00:07:51]Thanks.