The other Pak actor from 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', who MNS forgot, speaks up

Anushka Sharma and Imran Abbas in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Amidst all the hoopla that surrounded Fawad Khanrsquos special appearance in Karan Joharrsquos Diwali blockbuster Ae Dil Hai Mushkil there is one Pakistani actor who escaped mention in the media despite playing an interesting character in the film Imran Abbas who is a popular face across the border and played Anushka Sharmarsquos boyfriend in the film admits that he is disappointed that Hindi films are no longer screened in his country but wonders how effective bans are when Pakistanis watched pirated copies of Ae Dil and travelled to Dubai to catch a showAbbas is better known for his hit television shows Mera Naseeb and Noor Bano that ran famously on Zee TVrsquos Zindagi before the channel selfimposed a ban on Pak content in the wake of the Uri terrorist attacks Abbas was the original face of Zindagi when it launched in June 2014 The same year he debuted in Bollywood with Vikram Bhattrsquos fantasy horror film Creature 3D opposite Bipasha Basu He followed it up with a period film Jaanisar which was directed by Muzaffar Ali whose 1981 classic Umrao Jaan remains Abbasrsquos alltime favourite Later his TV play Mera Naam Yousaf Hai also premiered on Star Plus UK It was Starrsquos first syndicated Pakistani drama serialAe Dilhellip was to be Abbasrsquos most prominent project in Bollywood even though it had him in a guest appearance To be fair even Fawad Khanrsquos character turned out to be no more than an extended cameo ldquoI was so looking forward to the release of Ae Dilhelliprdquo Abbas admits talking exclusively to midday from Islamabad his hometownAfter the release of Ae Dilhellip though Abbas was quoted as saying that his role had been chopped rather unkindly a statement that viral on the Internet He puts it on record that the comments were wrongly attributed to him ldquoI have yet to watch the filmrdquoSpeaking about his role in the movie he says ldquoIt was a fun part Faisal propels the characters played by Anushka Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor to doubledaterdquo He also gets more screen time than Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan the other guest stars in the filmBack home Abbas has just had the second season of his hugely successful drama Khuda Aur Mohabbat 2011 out In the pipeline are a couple of other TV showsHe says he hasnrsquot had the time to mull over the ban on Pak artistes imposed by Mumbairsquos producersrsquo associations or the reasons that led to it Bait him and he only wishes things would take a turn for the betterEdited excerpts from the interviewAe Dil Hai Mushkil happens to be your most prominent Bollywood film even though you feature in a guest role Was it disappomting that it didnrsquot release in your home countryIt felt bad more so because of the tense relationship between India and Pakistan But itrsquos a very sensitive subject and I wouldnrsquot want to get into it Having said that Irsquom sad that Bollywood movies arenrsquot showing in Pakistani cinemas I know though that fans of Karan Johar Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma here would watch ADHM anyway on pirated DVDs or via torrent downloads I even know of people who went to Dubai to watch the movie in theatresIncidentally your earlier film Jaanisar also didnrsquot release in PakistanYes Jaanisar didnrsquot make it past the censor board in Pakistan which kind of shocked me because itrsquos such a beautiful film and it only shows Hindus and Muslims living peacefully together in the lsquopreWar of Independencersquo times It wasnrsquot antiPakistan or antiMuslim in any wayIt was quite a surprise for your Pakistani fans when you landed a part in Ae Dilhellip and you didnrsquot even hint at it until September last year when you tweeted ldquoHaving wonderful time in London with the team of my new movierdquoItrsquos a guest appearance so I didnrsquot make any noise about it I signed on the film on the suggestion of my friend Manish Malhotra Initially I wasnrsquot sure if I should but because it was a Dharma Productionsrsquo film and especially when I came to know that Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt also had guest roles in it I couldnrsquot say noAre you in touch with your friends in MumbaiOf course And most of my friends are from outside the film industryWhat was your first reaction to Karan Joharrsquos video post where he expressed the resolve not to engage with any Pak artistes in the futureI could understand how much pressure he must have felt to come to this point of making the statementDid you speak to Karan afterNo I got busy and Irsquom sure he is busy with his stuffHave you received hate mail from Indians on social mediaSee we are a very jazbaati qaum sentimental people Irsquoll give you the example of an IndiaPakistan cricket match Every time it is played we hear a lot of hate comments from both parties Itrsquos our natural response to such a situation But in normal circumstances it would be very different I can vouch for that because I have got great love from the Indian public I never faced any negativityIf things go back to the way they were would you return to BollywoodI had a great time working in the Hindi film industry and any actor would only be happy to get the chance to be part of Bollywood But I am not obsessed about any particular workplace I am open to good offers from literally anywhere in the world