Actor Rajat Bedi has opened up about the sweeping transformation of Hindi cinema over the past three decades, drawing on vivid personal memories of working alongside Shah Rukh Khan in the mid-1990s. Speaking recently, Bedi described the contrast between the analogue-era film industry he entered as a teenager and the digitally driven, OTT-powered landscape of today.

Early Days on Set with Shah Rukh Khan

'Yes, definitely, times have changed,' Bedi said. 'I was fortunate to work on Arriflex cameras when we used to shoot on reels. Before acting, I started working as an assistant director with Ramesh Sippy. Around that time, I also got the chance to work with Shah Rukh Khan for almost two and a half years during Zamaana Deewana. I was barely 18 or 19 then.'

Bedi, son of director-producer Narendra Bedi, joined the industry at 18 as an assistant to Sippy. During the making of Zamaana Deewana (1995), Khan reportedly gave him the affectionate nickname 'Tiger' — a detail that underscores the informal camaraderie that defined sets of that era.

A More Human Industry, He Says

'At that time, there was no social media and not much exposure compared to now. But there was something very special about those years. Relationships felt more personal. Whether it was journalists, producers, or technicians, people interacted more directly. There was a human connection in the way work happened,' Bedi recalled.

This comes amid a broader conversation in the Hindi film industry about whether the intimacy of pre-digital filmmaking has been lost to the pace and scale of modern production. Bedi's reflections add a first-person voice to that debate.

How the Industry Has Expanded

Bedi acknowledged that the current era has opened doors that were simply not there in the 1990s. 'Digital cameras have replaced reels, OTT platforms have created new spaces, and there is work happening everywhere. Earlier, opportunities were limited. Now there are far more doors open for actors, writers, directors, and technicians,' he explained.

Notably, Bedi himself has benefited from this expansion. In 2025, he returned to Hindi cinema with the role of Jaraj Saxena in the Netflix series The Ba**ds of Bollywood, directed by Khan's son Aryan Khan — a full-circle moment that bridges his early association with the Khan family and the streaming age.

Grateful for Both Eras

'The era I started in was completely different from the one we are living in today. But I consider myself fortunate because I've had the opportunity to be part of both,' Bedi said. His career arc — from reel-based shoots under Ramesh Sippy to a Netflix series helmed by Aryan Khan — serves as a rare through-line across two very different chapters of Bollywood history.

As streaming platforms continue to reshape how stories are told and who gets to tell them, voices like Bedi's offer a grounded reminder of what the industry looked like before the algorithm arrived.