Faysal Quraishi believes people have gone too far in cancelling Fahad Sheikh, need to 'chill'
Shamoon Abbasi also said Sheikh had apologised to Mohammed Ahmed and people needed to move on.
Amidst all the outrage over actor Fahad Sheikh’s ‘joke’ with veteran actor Mohammed Ahmed, which the latter found disrespectful, a powerful voice from Islamabad has entered the fray.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar posted about the incident on X on Thursday, calling Sheikh’s actions “not only condemnable but highly deplorable”.
The minister said he had a possible solution in mind to try to make the entertainment industry a more respectful place. He proposed the establishment of a mentorship programme for young actors where they could learn the trade from their seniors.
Tarar said Ahmed would be a suitable candidate to head the programme as a senior TV artist, or a council of senior actors could do it instead. He said he would be calling a meeting of TV artists soon to gather suggestions for the project.
Appearing on the Dareecha podcast on Saturday, Ahmed had recounted an incident where a much younger actor started ridiculing him in the green room. The actor said the man 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 he judged me to see whether I could act, then he told the producer I was alright.”
Ahmed also recounted an incident during a shoot in which the actor took a portable fan from one of the other actors and used it like a hairdryer on Ahmed’s head. “He shouted to everyone, ‘Look, I am styling his hair!’”
On Wednesday, after videos allegedly showing Sheikh as the culprit began circulating on social media, he apologised to Ahmed, saying “half baked stories” were used to “set a narrative”.
He went on to say that he had apologised to Ahmed “long before this whole parade of content sparked out [sic]”.
“He is my senior, I am not ashamed to ask for his forgiveness publicly,” Sheikh said.
“And if Ahmed sahab thinks my personal apology was not enough for him, than I apologise to him on this platform as well, I hope you don’t keep any grudges against me because I would neva think of insulting my seniors in any case [sic],” wrote the actor.
Following the six-story-long apology, some members of the fraternity who had earlier expressed support for Ahmed — notably, Faysal Quraishi and Shamoon Abbasi — appreciated the younger actor for saying sorry publicly and called for calm.