Fawad Khan discusses Indian fans’ love and Bollywood ‘politics,’ addressing whether his popularity irked industry heavyweights.
Fawad Khan was already one of the biggest names in the Pakistani entertainment industry when he debuted in Bollywood in 2014. During a recent interview with Excuse Me with Ahmad Ali Butt, the Pakistani actor opened up about the love he got from fans in India, and also touched upon the ‘politics’ here. He added it was easier to ‘combat’ the politics in the Pakistani film industry than in India.
On being a ‘threat’ in Bollywood
Fawad Khan was asked, “You’ve made a lot of friends in India and you worked with many people there. But it came to a point where you were being compared to the big names, the big dogs. Did it p*** off a lot of people over there? Ali Zafar, Mahira Khan and you created a dent there. You three were being offered major lead roles in one of the biggest industries in the world. Do you think that happened too soon or quick for you in order for you to become a threat?” Fawad said in response, “How would I know, man?”
His PR team would get ‘angry’
When prodded, Fawad said in Urdu, “That’s such a heavy question. I got a lot of love from India. But look, every industry has its politics. In Pakistan as well. But it’s easier to combat the politics in your industry because it is your own. I’m not saying it (the industry politics) is unheard of, I’m sure it happens everywhere. But there was one thing, if I talk about threat or no threat – 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, ‘You are here just to remove me from places, not put me’. My manager, who is my good friend now, would say, ‘No, You don’t know how the world works’. I said, ‘I don’t want to do Instagram, Facebook, I don’t want to do all these things.’ But she would say ‘That is the norm!’”
Fawad Khan’s Bollywood career
In 2014, Fawad made his Bollywood debut opposite Sonam Kapoor in Khoobsurat. He only worked in two more Hindi films – Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Kapoor and Sons, which was backed by Karan and directed by Shakun Batra – before Pakistani artistes were banned from working in Indian cinema as the relations between the two countries soured.
Fawad Khan had also walked the ramp as the showstopper with Deepika Padukone for designer Manish Malhotra at India Couture Week 2016.
Disclaimer: Except the headline and synopsis, this story has been taken from the HT News Service.