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Actor, director and playwright Yasir Hussain took to Instagram to thank celebrity stylist and photographer Akif Ilyas for his support after Ilyas derided Hussain’s comedy during a TV appearance.

The actor posted two stories on his Instagram account on Friday, saying he was grateful to the stylist and had been so for years.

“He did my first-ever photo shoot and didn’t charge a single rupee for it,” Hussain recalled in his video message. “Back then, he had no rivals as a makeup artist or as a photographer, that’s how busy he was and he’s still that big of an artist.”

Hussain said he keeps mentioning how Ilyas and so many other seniors helped him get where he is today.

Coming to Ilyas’ comments, the actor said he didn’t know why the stylist said what he did, “maybe he was influenced by somebody”.

Hussain said he respects his senior’s opinion and ended the clip saying “I love you, Akif bhai.”

In an episode of the show Rise & Shine aired on Wednesday, the photographer said people had developed a “cheap sense of humour” and comedians nowadays “make fun of others and think they’ve done something very big”.

Ilyas said anyone wanting to learn comedy should look into the work of Anwar Maqsood and Moin Akhtar who could make people laugh without resorting to the use of foul language and double entendres.

The stylist mentioned Hussain specifically and said these were the kind of people who would call him repeatedly and say, “Please build up our careers, please make my portfolio, please cut my hair.”

He said that when these people build a platform, instead of respecting other artists, they go on stage and ridicule others. “They mimicked me, they said bad things about me, they spoke about my friendships in the wrong terms.”

Ilyas said brands abroad never stooped so low as to start criticising their competitor; they let their work speak for them. But in Pakistan, he said, people let their mouths do the talking rather than their actions.