Yalghaar star Shaan Shahid has shot back at Fahad Mustafa who had claimed that he is the only Pakistani actor to gain massive popularity in Pakistan without crossing the border by pointing out that the list of stars to gain fame with no Bollywood flicks is rather long.
Jeeto Pakistan host Fahad Mustafa had told Dawn that he is the only actor in Pakistan reach this level of popularity without proving his work in India.
The quote didn’t go down well with patriotic Shaan Shahid who commented:
“A lot of good actors have never went to India yet they have been quite popular here including Waheed Murad, Shahid, Rahat Kazmi, Usman Peerzada, Umar Shareef, Faisal Rehman, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Bilal Ashraf, Faisal Qureshi, Nouman Ejaz and Danish Taimoor (sic)”
Ouch! Can’t argue with Shaan’s logic.
Ever the gentleman Shaan’s razor sharp criticism was tempered with a dose of praise for Mustafa’s success on television but he also advised him to stay humble and respect others.
“You are doing good work Fahad, keep your head down and focus on your work and let the people say what you are saying. You are the only actor in Pakistan who can do a TV game show and do films together. Keep up the hard work. Films don’t have rating meters. Every Friday is a test.”
Meanwhile, Fahad Mustafa earlier dismissed Shaan’s warning that he was becoming too mass-centric saying that mass appeal and stardom are directly proportional to each other.
Mustafa said: “TV can be run by network heads and their particular favorites may be preferred there but cinema is the one medium where an actor becomes successful on the basis of his popularity with the masses.”