Pakistani actor Fawad Khan successfully ventured into the Hindi film industry with fairytale drama ‘Khoobsurat’, starring Sonam Kapoor. Next, he was seen in a nuanced performance in the family drama ‘Kapoor & Sons’.
Recently, during a chat on Ahmad Ali Butt’s YouTube channel, the actor, who is known to feature in several successful Pakistani television dramas, was questioned if Bollywood’s A-list stars were threatened by his rapid rise in Bollywood. Reacting to the question, Fawad mentioned how he had a different opinion as compared to his public relations representatives regarding how ‘visible’ he needs to be.
The host asked Fawad, “You’ve made a lot of friends in India, but it came to the point where you were being compared to the big names. Did it p**s off a lot of the big dogs? Ali Zafar, Mahira Khan and you were being offered lead roles in one of the biggest industries in the world. Do you think it happened too soon for you in order to become a threat?”
Fawad, with a laugh, asked, “How do I know, man?” However, he added that he did get a love from India, but each industry has its politics. Fawad stated, “In Pakistan as well. But it’s easier to combat in your own industry. I’m not saying it’s unheard of, I’m sure it happens everywhere. There was one thing, I had PRs, and they used to get angry at this… I was like, ‘I need you to take out my name, not put it in there’. I would ask my PR to remove me from places, not put me. My manager would say, ‘You don’t know how the world works’.”
The ‘Humsafar’ actor further mentioned how his manager told him that being on social media is ‘the norm’. However, he was not too keen on exposing himself to the public. He said, “Woh kehte hain jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai, mujhe lagta hai jo kam dikhta hai woh zyada bikta hai (They say all publicity is good publicity, but I feel no publicity is the best publicity).” Fawad asserted that as per him, constant presence on social media ‘dilutes the power of a movie star’.
Fawad and numerous other Pakistani artists stopped working in India after the 2016 Uri attacks. It was last year that the Bombay High Court lifted a ban on Pakistani artistes in India. Recently, British-Pakistani actor Alyy Khan was seen in both Disney+ Hotstar series ‘The Trial’, and Netflix’s ‘The Archies’.
