‘I would love to see them again someday’: Fawad Khan on the possibility of working in Bollywood again

For fans in Pakistan, Fawad Khan is Ashar from Humsafar and Zaroon from Zindagi Gulzar hai but for fans across border, he’s most well known as Vikram from his Bollywood debut Khoobsurat with Sonam Kapoor. He also featured in Kapoor & Sons alongside Siddharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt and soon after in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil starring Anushka Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor. However, political tension between India and Pakistan put a halt to his Bollywood career. Now, when asked if he wants to work in Bollywood again, Khan said he cannot give a “definitive answer” until things stabilise between two countries.

Khan, who made his Pakistani film debut with Khuda Kay Liye, told Variety on Sunday that he had a great experience and “enjoyed” working in Bollywood but the “political fallout” between India and Pakistan has not influenced his relationships. “It’s definitely made us very wary of answering such a question… It’s a good question but I can’t give a definitive answer until things stabilise between two countries”.

He explained that he “hated confrontation” and avoids it because he doesn’t like controversy either. “I think it’s more of a question whether someone else would like to work with me, instead of me working with others, because fingers will be pointed at them. I’ll do my work and go away but then the people who’ll have to suffer are those who want to collaborate with me. And I care about that because they are going to live there, and they’re going to suffer the consequences.”

He added that similarly, if he was to work in India and come back to Pakistan he would “suffer the consequences” of what people or perhaps even the government would think about it.

“I have a great relationship with the people that I’ve worked with and made great friends. I would love to see them again someday, and maybe work with them again. Whether it be for an international platform, a Pakistani platform, or for an Indian platform. Mainstream Bollywood is a different ball game altogether,” said Khan.

This year, Khan was seen on the screen once again in Marvel’s Ms. Marvel alongside Mehwish Hayat, as the grandparents of superhero Kamala Khan played by Pakistani-American actor Iman Vellani. He is now gearing up for highly anticipated film The Legend of Maula Jatt alongside Mahira Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Humaima Mallick, Gohar Rasheed, Faris Shafi and others. The film will be releasing nationwide in theatres on Thursday, Oct 13.

Other than that, Khan has Neelofar alongside Mahira and Money Back Guarantee with Wasim Akram, Mikaal Zulfiqar, Ayesha Omar, Javed Sheikh and more in the pipeline, along with an OTT project with Sanam Saeed for Zee5.