Dubai: While the stars of Pakistani comedy ‘Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2’ unanimously agreed on Thursday that former cricket captain Imran Khan’s rise as their prime minister was a good sign, they adopted a pragmatic approach about whether his leadership would have an immediate impact on the film industry, which is undergoing a robust revival.
“There are several issues that need to be looked at before he solves the problems affecting our movie industry … Issues like providing great education to children, health issues and even provision of free education like how it’s done in developed countries will be his priority and that’s the right way to go,” said Humayun Saeed in Urdu in an interview as he visited the Gulf News office on Thursday evening.
Saeed was accompanied by his co-stars Fahad Mustafa, Mawra Hocane, Kubra Khan, Ahmed Ali Butt and Vasay Chaudhry, from the comedy ‘JPNA 2’ as they toured Dubai to promote their latest film.
“I don’t think we are the kind of artists who would go up and start screaming slogans that artists should now have more rights … He has a lot of responsibilities to fulfil before he gets to us,” said Saeed.
It was clear that the team were ardent supporters of the charismatic leader, as they broke into an impromptu clap expressing their joy at the recent election verdict which saw the former cricket captain become their country’s PM.
“It’s definitely good for us and is a great sign,” said Hocane, while others nodded in unison. During the voting, Hocane who has more than 2.8 million followers on Instagram and 1.4 million Twitter followers also implored her fans to go out and vote for their future leader.
Politics wasn’t the only subject that was discussed animatedly during their visit to the Gulf News newsroom. They also spoke at length about working in a multi-starrer without any egos at play and toning down the raunchiness in JPNA 2, as the first instalment had come under fire for featuring women dancing in bikinis in Bangkok.
“The only clause in our contracts was that we are all covered and that even Fahad doesn’t remove his shirt,” said Chaudhry with a laugh.
JPNA 2 is one of the most anticipated Pakistani films this Eid as its 2014 original had set the box office on fire with its ribald humour about a bunch of men who head to Bangkok to escape their nagging partners. The flashy sequel, which has retained a majority of its major players including Saeed and Butt, is similar in tone and sticks to the theme of friendship, bromance, bonding, finding love and being forced to grow up.
