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Fawad Khan, the heartthrob of the Pakistani entertainment industry, made some surprising revelations about everyone’s favourite Pakistani drama Humsafar on Ahmad Ali Butt’s podcast Excuse Me, including the fact that he didn’t want to do it at all.

Khan revisited the start of his journey, a time when social media had little to no presence and music and film were their escape from reality. For the unversed, Khan’s claim to fame was his band Entity Paradigm. The self-taught musician’s musical career kicked off in the year 2000 as the lead singer of the iconic Pakistan band. Butt, who was also part of the rock band, asked him about his departure from the venture. Khan reassured fans that it was not due to creative differences, but there was definitely some drama there. “I don’t like to create controversies, but EP’s breakup was an ugly one and it had its reasons but it’s all in the past now.”

In the midst of quitting music and not having any promising acting prospects lined up, the actor chose to tie the knot with his sweetheart, Sadaf Khan. He explained how he didn’t even think twice when deciding to get married. “When you marry, God provides means for you, when you have children, those means grow,” said the actor, clarifying, however, that was not the reason he chose to get married. Clearly, in his case, his wife did prove to be his lucky charm.

Not a Humsafar fan

Speaking of milestones in his career, Khan confessed how he thought Humsafar was a very common story and was not interested in doing the project. He initially rejected the script twice because he wanted to do something different but Momina Duraid, the producer of Humsafar, was very persistent.

He joked about how he thought of the show as just his pay cheque. Even though he is grateful to Humsafar for bringing further opportunities his way and advancing his career, the actor hilariously said, “It’s like a scenario where you don’t get to chose your parents or your siblings”.

Khan candidly expressed how music or the drama industry don’t fascinate him anymore — cinema is his true love. He emphasised that the phenomenon of movies and movie stars cannot be avoided. Watching a movie in the theatre does not allow one to turn it off, whereas watching TV, you can flip through channels and switch between dramas, he said.

Heading to India

The actor discussed his first Bollywood venture, Khoobsurat, opposite Sonam Kapoor. He admitted that the opportunity landed in his lap because of the buzz from Humsafar, although he also gave a screentest for the project.

He also spoke about his fascination for his other Bollywood project, Kapoor and Sons, how remarkable the story was and that the project truly harnessed the actor in him. When Butt asked whether he was seen as a threat to his Bollywood counterparts, Khan replied, “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 in your own industry”.

In an era where celebrities are the stars of social media, Khan’s account is pretty dead, save for ad campaigns or trailers from his movies. He is, he confessed, not a social media person and his accounts are handled by his team. “Social media and constant availability dilutes the power of a movie star,” said one of Pakistan’s biggest movie stars — and we believe him.