Shahab Ali aka Sajid from The Family Man 2 is riding high on the success of his super-hit web series. It has been almost 20 days since the show released online, and the actor is still receiving much love from his fans. In an interview with Times Now Digital, Shahab Ali opened up on the messages he is getting from fans, his experience working with Manoj Bajpayee aka Srikant Tiwari, and more. 

Revealing the compliments he has received from his fans, Shahab revealed, “There are many but if I have to mention a few, the first has to be, which so many people are messaging me that we can’t imagine a season 3 without Sajid. That’s the biggest compliment I can get because Sajid ne logon ke dilon mein jagah bana li matlab that they can’t imagine a season 3 without Sajid. So, that’s the biggest compliment for me.”

Shahab further stated that he is getting messages from people saying, “We hate Sajid but we love Shahab.”

When asked about his experience shooting with Manoj Bajpayee, Shahab couldn’t stop heaping praise on the actor. He said:

“I was speechless. I can write a book on Manoj sir because he is amazing. He is not just a great actor but such a great human being. I am impressed by his groundedness and humility.  I feel blessed to have worked with Manoj sir in my first-ever web show. It was wonderful experience. As an actor, I have learnt so much from him. He is so good, the way transforms himself into the character, the way he improvises, the approach he has and the way humanizes his character, it is amazing.”

Apart from talking about The Family Man 2, Shahab opened about his experience working in Kedarnath, which featured Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan. The actor said his experience was good but he had a small role in the film. He added that he just had two days of shoot, out of which he shot for one and a half days. However, he got an opportunity to be on the film’s set because weather condition was not good and helicopters were not working. 

Further, Shahab opened up about his experience working with Sushant on the film. He stated:

“My experience with Sushant was amazing. Because I remember I did not have a scene with him but still he asked me to come and rehearse with him. I said ‘Arey but I do not have a scene with you, it’s flashback scene bacche ke saath hai mera’. He said ya but I have to speak those lines in a scene with Sara. So I want to listen to those lines, because agar mere father mujhe bachpan mein bolte the vo line toh abhi mere father film mein kaise bol rahe hai vaise hi main use memory launga. So I was so impressed by the way he was so dedicated towards his work that even if we didn’t have a scene together, he rehearsed with me. He was so enthusiastic about it and I got really impressed by it. It is really sad that he is not with us anymore but he was amazing.”

The actor mentioned that he used to watch and observe him during the shoot and he found Sushant’s performance to be mindblowing. “It was difficult to shoot in Kedarnath because he was playing that pithoo ka character. So vo basket leke mein ek insaan ko bithake slop par aap chadh rahe ho lagatar,  you are giving so many retakes, 10-12 retakes if you are giving, you are physically exhausted but he used to do it with so much passion. He was really good,” shared Shahab.

On a concluding note, Shahab said his overall experience working on Kedarnath was just okay because he did not have a big part. “They said action and I did my scenes. I did not even experience vo camera ke saamnewala jo feel hota hai. However, I was excited about that film because they told me there were shooting in Kedarnath only. So I was like Kedarnarth jaane milega, isse zyada positive aur shubh chiz nahi ho sakti. Bas I thought of that and the fact Sushant was there (in the film), ye do cheeze thi mere liye aur kuch nahi tha,” he said while signing off.