Veteran actor Qavi Khan stars in Iram Parveen Bilal's Forbidden Steps

Qavi Khan has just returned from shooting for a film he calls his Hollywood debut.

Directed by Iram Parveen Bilal of Josh fame, upcoming film Forbidden Steps stars Khan as Baba, "a Pakistani father who travels to the US to meet his son who lives there." Khan's son Majeed is played by Star Trek actor Faran Tahir, who is a law enforcement officer who wants to bridge the generational gap between his daughter and father.

Describing the film as a "beautiful family story", Qavi says his is a "special character" in the film.

Elaborating about his experience, Khan said, "I can't even put it in words. Working there and seeing how they do things was amazing and it really showed me the importance of characters and drama as a tool. I felt this was the void in my career's growth and how the cast and crew work as a unit. There's no one more important than the other. And I loved the professionalism. Everyone comes on the time they're given. They respect the field and it was refreshing to see. Its probably because they want quality and not quantity. I wish people here would be like that. Here we care about quantity so we're all overworked and not really motivated. They were so welcoming and we had an emotional farewell."

Qavi believes he was 'discovered' after his short film Nanu Aur Main was screened at a few festivals: "Around 3-4 months ago I got a call from a woman wanting to meet me for work. When we talked she revealed she was from Hollywood and is looking for the right person for the character. She told me about the script and I was interested, although it did take a month to finalise because I was also surprised that why me."

In a separate conversation with Images, director Iram Parveen Bilal has clarified that her film is an independent film being produced in the US and noone from her team identified as being "from Hollywood".

The release date for Forbidden Steps is not yet known.