Fawad Afzal Khan – Heartthrob of Pakistan all set to debut in India with Khoobsurat

Nikita Sharma

For the many fans of the hit cross-border TV show Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Khan is no stranger. Fawad is making his Bollywood debut and it remains to be seen whether he can make an impact in the famously competitive Hindi film industry where other Pakistani actors have so far struggled to make a mark.

This much is for certain: when it comes to the charm offensive, Khan is beating most of his Indian colleagues hollow. Nikita Sharma from the Indus Age team in an exclusive telephonic conversation with Fawad talked about his upcoming movie Khoobsurat, starring opposite Sonam Kapoor where he plays Rajkumar Vikram Rathore.

Q. Tell me something about your character in the movie?

I am a straight forward guy, a disciplined man. Who has got everything preplanned in life and probably can foresee 40 years in his future and is very regimented. A Rajput prince, who his ambitions in life but very set ambitions which regards to work, basically a workaholic. He is not romantic who isn’t even inclined to his fiancé too. Suddenly, he meets this girl and his world changes.

This is your Bollywood debut and you are starring with some very established names of the industry like Kirron Kher and Sonam Kapoor. How was the entire experience of working with them?

Beautiful! It was a great team to work with, great attitude and very down to earth human beings and above all I think they are great performers.

This movie is a remake of the 1980’s ‘Khoobsurat’. Do you think people would have a huge amount of expectation already from the movie?

It is a remake; in essence it draws its inspiration from the original Khoobsurat as to what the basic story plot would be. I think except of this, the film is from a different angle all together. It’s a Disney fairytale and is a romantic comedy.

I think the inclination of the audience is towards entertaining films; this movie would also be different on in its own regard. Having said that, the old movie has its own place and had an amazing commercial value at that time and has won alot of awards and is a great film by a great director but this is something different.

So, Yes I think that the expectations of the audience would more on the lines of a fairytale.

As you said it’s a rom-com and there are a number of movies coming in the same genre. How is Khoobsurat different?

I think it is based on a very classical interaction of two people that’s kind of different from the regular and recurring material in cinema these days but this has a very old school vibe to it in that kind of a way where the hero is somewhat from a classical literature sort of a an era and the girl is full of life, from a completely different world altogether and coming into his life she disturbs his mechanism totally.

Q. You hail from Pakistan and it’s your debut here. Do you feel any difference working here in Bollywood?

The only difference I feel is that I am in a new territory. As far as the film industry is concerned, I don’t think I am in a position to comment right maybe after a few years I’ll be in a better position to comment. But as of now I think that the Indian cinema has over 100 years of experience behind it and has a system that has become an institute, an industry so there is a lot to learn from it.

Q. Do you have any future plans of working here?

Well there are a few talks going on and I am discussing things but nothing material has been completely planned out. If something comes out, it’ll be made public.

Q. Any messages for your fans in Australia and India?

All I can say us thank you for your love and appreciation. I am very lucky to have my fans around and I have had it very easy with them. I thank everyone for keeping the love alive.