Esquire India's Digital Cover Star Saif Ali Khan Is Still Bollywood’s Coolest Rulebreaker

Actors, they said, don’t last past 40.

It was the ’90s, a decade of shoulder pads and sharper certainties, when a film director in the industry offered Saif Ali Khan this unsolicited nugget of advice as though time itself had issued a decree. The logic was simple: matinee idols had a shelf life, charisma aged, and the audience moved on as the hero aged.

But time, as it turns out, would be his greatest ally.

At 55, Saif Ali Khan is still here. Still working. Still interesting. Still evolving and yes, still strikingly good-looking. But more than anything, he remains committed to evolving as an actor, and perhaps more interestingly, as a public figure who has often chosen to stand apart from the rest and away from the social media circus.

While the actor, film producer, and the Nawab of Pataudi may be synonymous with the name Saif Ali Khan, he is equally known for his effortless style, razor-sharp wit, intellectual depth, and an innate sense of class that never tries too hard. He has not merely survived Bollywood’s often ruthless star system; he has successfully managed to slip through the cracks of formula and expectation with an ease that can only come from choosing curiosity over calculation

And while those choices have sometimes worked brilliantly and other times not as well with the audiences, what remains constant is his refusal to conform to the traditional understanding of what a leading man should be or look like on the big screen. He’s done the multi-starrer blockbusters like Race, Dil Chahta Hai , Cocktail, Kal Ho Na Ho with SRK and the quiet, character-driven offbeats including Gossai in Laal Kaptaan, Cyrus Mistry in Being Cyrus.

The glossy entertainers that kids of the ’90s grew up quoting and the darker, more experimental turns that critics didn’t always see coming, especially him as Langda Tyagi in Vishal Bharadwaj's Omkara, and Sartaj in Netflix original Sacred Games. He’s played the good guy, the gangster, the lovers and lunatic.

And in doing so, he’s carved out a space that feels entirely his own beyond the box-office defined genre and the trope of a hero. How many can say that with any real honesty?

What anchors his performances and perhaps, his appeal is a comfort with contradiction. He’s capable of delivering simmering intensity as seen in Parineeta and Tanhaji, but he is just as quick to pivot to near-slapstick comic timing with films like Go Goa Gone, and Hum Tum.

Naturally, with roles that sit just left of mainstream, the songs that accompany them tend to be just as offbeat- quirky, unexpected, and often surprisingly memorable. Tracks like Pungi, Paaji Tussi Such A Pussycat, Ole Ole and of course, the one haunting his filmography The Rat Song.

It is funny then that the actor has balanced the quirky on-screen with a quietly composed off-screen persona. Born to Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore, it’s natural that style, poise, and intellect would be part of Saif Ali Khan’s inheritance. While these qualities might be expected given his parents’ stature, Saif carries them with a casual ease that never feels rehearsed, and yet seamlessly expresses itself through his style and wit.

So it feels only fitting that a man of intellect, irreverence, elegance, and depth like Saif Ali Khan is our digital cover star — the very embodiment of what it means to be an Esquire man.

We hope you enjoy the cover shoot and images — all will be unveiled very soon.

Credits

Chairperson: Avarna Jain

COO: Jamal Shaikh

Editor: Rahul Gangwani

Styling and Creative Direction: Vijendra Bhardwaj

Photography: Nishant Radhakrishnan

Editorial Mentor: Saira Menezes

Managing Editor: Sonal Nerurkar

Deputy Editor: Mayukh Majumdar

Words: Anindita Ghose

Make up: Dhananjay Prajapati

Hair: Sagar Rahurkar

Styling Asst: Vaishnavi Mishra

Production assistant: Ishani Bhojwani

Bookings & Production: Varun Shah

Location: Soho House, Mumbai

Artist Manager :Urshita Kochar

Talent Agency :Exceed Entertainment

Artist Reputation Management: Communiqué Film PR

Esquire India Editorial: Saurav Bhanot, Nitin Sreedhar, Prannay Pathak, Abhya Adlakha, Rudra Mulmule, Riti Ghai, Kashish Mishra

To read more stories from Esquire India's September 2025 issue, pick up a copy of the magazine from your nearest newspaper stand or bookstore. Or click here to subscribe to the magazine.