Fardeen Khan Was In Touch With Salman Khan During His Break: 'Feels Good That People Haven’t Forgotten'

Fardeen Khan is back and receiving praise for his big OTT debut. After nearly 14 years, he returned to the screens with Heeramandi. In a recent chat, Fardeen said that he regrets leaving the industry despite getting offers until a decade ago. He moved away from Mumbai, prompting filmmakers to think he wasn’t interested in acting.

“I kind of just completely took off. I used to come back to Mumbai every few months, but I pretty much just took off. Yes, there were offers at the time, all the way till 2014-15, but after that, people assumed that I’ve moved out of the country. That’s a perception I’m still trying to change. I live in India, I’m based out of here now, this is home. But that was the perception before, and rightly so because I wasn’t around,” he told Pinkvilla.

He continued, “There were offers up to a certain point, but then I put on a lot of weight and that was a signal to people that, ‘Hey, he’s obviously not interested.’ Most certainly I regret taking such a long break of 12 years. It’s a big, big regret. It wasn’t planned but I wish the gap was shorter, by at least 6-7 years. I needed some time off after I lost my father and for my personal reasons also.”

When he returned to India, Fardeen Khan reached out to his former colleagues to kickstart his career again. He stayed in touch with Salman Khan, his co-star from No Entry. “Sanjay Gupta offered me a film in our second meeting! It was scary when I came back, I felt like a newcomer all over again. It feels good that people haven’t forgotten you, people still want to see your work. Salman I’ve been in touch with pretty much throughout. I met Mukesh Chhabra also. I’m trying to convince people now that I’m here and ready to work,” he added.

After starring in Heeramandi, Fardeen Khan will star in the comedy Khel Khel Mein with Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu, set for release on Independence Day weekend. He is also slated to feature in Visfot, a horror drama backed by Sanjay Gupta and T-Series, based on the Venezuelan movie Rock, Paper and Scissors from 2012.