Bollywood may be the carrot attracting everyone across the border these days but British-born actor Ahsan Khan believes that television continues to be the focal point of every Pakistani actor’s career, even today.
Bollywood may be the carrot attracting everyone across the border these days but British-born actor Ahsan Khan believes that television continues to be the focal point of every Pakistani actor’s career, even today.
“TV has set a benchmark for us,” he spoke to Instep while on a Lahore to Karachi flight this weekend. “Pakistan’s stars have managed to go international because of TV or music. Our films are getting better now but they still do not have the global resonance that our television serials and dramas do.”
“I’m based in the UK and travel a lot,” he continued. “I was in India for Zee TV and Muscat for a (Rizwan Beyg and Anita Dongre) fashion show and people approached me with praise for our dramas. People still talk about Neeyat (with Mahira Khan) which is playing on Zee Zindagi these days.”
The actor emphasised on the need to stay committed to TV; he felt that television stars migrating to the silver screen would leave an unfortunate vacuum in an industry that is our backbone. He said this applied to actors as well as directors. Khan shared that while he is in talks for several Pakistani and international film projects, he understood the need to stay committed to TV simultaneously.
“I agree that scripts and stories must evolve,” he concluded. “But we should build on TV’s strengths instead of neglecting it. This is exactly why Humayun Saeed, despite doing a hit film last year, will be returning to TV screens soon.”
