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Syed Mohammed Ahmed, Pakistan’s favourite TV dad, revealed in an interview published on Saturday that an actor some 40 years his junior disrespected him on set. Now, there’s an industry-wide manhunt to find the man who did it.

Appearing on the Dareecha podcast with Sheeba Khan, Ahmed recounted an experience where a much younger actor started ridiculing him in the green room.

The senior actor said the culprit was the show’s lead actor and spoke in a loud voice to boost his sense of importance in the room. The unnamed actor told people, “This man here, Mohammed Ahmed, I first worked with him four to six years ago and judged me to see whether I could act, then he told the producer I was alright.”

While that project went ahead and ended without further incident, Ahmed was cast in another programme with the offender, despite his apprehensions. “I told the producer that I was working with [the actor] again and I don’t know if he’s changed. The producer said he was much better behaved now and I shouldn’t worry,” the veteran actor recalled.

Ahmed said the younger actor displayed ‘good’ behaviour on the very first day of the shoot by taking a portable fan from one of the other actors and using it like a hairdryer on Ahmed’s head. “He shouted to everyone, ‘Look, I am styling his hair!’”

Ahmed said he did not react at the time because everyone has a mobile phone now and things like this often get posted on social media without context and he didn’t want to stoop to that level anyway.

While the veteran actor is understandably upset, his colleagues are even angrier. Faysal Quraishi, who saw a post about the incident, asked for the actor’s name. “Then the matter is between me and him,” Quraishi said.

Zara Tareen, sharing Quraishi’s remarks, said a problem with the industry was that it produced stencils rather than artists — Ahmed had said the culprit had the same acting and the same hairstyle on every show.

Actor Ali Raza was asked by a fan if he was guilty of disrespecting Ahmed, to which the younger actor said he was a “huge fan” of the older actor and it was unfortunate that he had not had an opportunity to work with him.

“How can I? And why would I?” Raza asked.

Actor Syed Jibran wrote a note “strongly suggesting” the person responsible come forward and apologise, even if Ahmed had been gracious enough not to name and shame him in front of the whole country.

Jibran said the actor was clearly “deeply hurt, otherwise he wouldn’t have opened his heart out in that podcast”. He called the incident “absolutely shocking and shameful”.

Shamoon Abbasi also asked that the offender apologise, but his was less of a request. The filmmaker claimed he knew who the young actor was and said he should say sorry before the public found out who he was and began to cancel him.

Abbasi said Ahmed was one of the sweetest seniors in the industry, which made the incident even more upsetting and being judged and mentored by seniors was a part of every young actor’s journey.

As for the veteran actor himself, he posted on Instagram on Wednesday, thanking the entertainment fraternity for their love and support over the issue.

“I am truly overwhelmed and touched by all the messages, calls and voice notes I have received from all my colleagues in the industry. Thank you to each and every one of you. It has truly been heartwarming to see how you have all reached out and stood up for me.”

Ahmed said he was choosing “to focus on these positive messages instead of that negative experience” and all the love he received makes him feel his years in the industry have been worth it.