As Bollywood director and producer Karan Johar released a video in which he swears not to work with Pakistani actors until the political tensions between India and Pakistan are resolved, a scene of a different nature played out in the UAE.
On Tuesday evening, television actors from India and Pakistan worked together filming the locally produced serial Khwabon Ke Darmiyaan at Dubai’s City Walk.
The hour-long TV show has 13 episodes, which will be telecast on Zee Middle East in November — but not on the network’s Indian channels.
Its lead actor, Javed Sheikh, is a Pakistani who has acted in Bollywood films such as Namastey London and Tamasha. He described their collective sentiment by proclaiming that actors should ideally be placed above politics. His co-stars include Indian actors Nigaar Khan, Aryan Ved and Sachin Khurrana, and Pakistani actor Muneeb Bhatt.
The 65-year-old veteran actor plays Imran Malik, a Dubai-based business tycoon, whose trials of running a real-estate empire are told in the series.
“This fraternity is for peace … We are not into it. What’s happening is between the governments. We should not get involved. Like actor Salman Khan said, whether the actors come to India from Pakistan or to Pakistan [from] India, they come with a government visa and a work permit. They pay all taxes and we spread love. There’s nothing except love between these two countries,” said Sheikh in an interview with tabloid! in his vanity van.
The actor was on the tenth day of his Dubai shoot and was due to return to Pakistan soon after finishing his 20-hour shoot. He’s optimistic that the simmering tensions between the countries would be resolved soon. A Bollywood project also hangs in the balance.
In the last few weeks, cinemas in Pakistan have banned Indian films as a mark of solidarity with their country’s armed forces, while the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association has banned Pakistani actors from working in Bollywood. Johar, the director and producer of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which stars Pakistani talent Fawad Khan, fears a ban on his film due to the tense political climate and has declared his patriotism publicly so that his Diwali release goes uninterrupted.
“I have a Bollywood project, Veerey Di Shaadi, pending. Kareena Kapoor [Khan] has her delivery in December and the shooting has been pushed to April. By that time, I am sure everything will be fine and we will start to work together again in India,” said Sheikh.
His co-stars from the TV serial couldn’t agree more. Indian actress Khan, who plays a chief financial officer called Roshini Mehra in Khwabon Ke Darmiyaan, says the going has been good.
“It’s the first time that I am working with Pakistani actors … It’s also the first time that the viewers will be able to see a story set in Dubai with actors from both India and Pakistan. It’s truly an international story,” said Khan.
Read the full interviews in tabloid! soon.
