The reluctant heartthrob
His Bollywood debut has earned him a legion of swooning female fans but Fawad Khan isn't one to take his sex symbol status seriously
When an interviewer asked Sonam Kapoor if she would have hit on Fawad had he not been married, the reply came out before the question was even finished, a resounding "YES!" Do we hear an indignant chorus of "Isn't it enough that she got to kiss him onscreen, won't she leave him alone in real life?" But Fawad will assure you that when it comes to the two of them, despite the sizzling chemistry they shared in Khoobsurat, there is absolutely no danger of them harbouring "gandi gandi" thoughts for each other.
Does he find her hot though? "Of course I do. I find all my co-stars hot, whether it's Sonam Kapoor or Mahira Khan or Sanam Saeed," says Fawad. "You need to find the person that you're acting opposite attractive to make the onscreen chemistry believable." But he makes sure to reiterate that the much talked about kiss between Milli and Prince Vikram never took place (and that's our cue to stop hating poor Sonam). "It was a cheated shot. When I read the script, I told the producer I can't do that. I wasn't ready to kiss on screen in my first movie. It wasn't something that I would be comfortable with and they agreed to work around that."
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We're meeting in designer Omar Farooq's outlet in the actor's hometown Lahore and in person, Fawad looks even better than he does on screen. He's put on some weight since his Khoobsurat days, having admitted that his gaunt look might have gone a little out of hand, and he's sporting a moustache reminiscent of Hollywood's leading men of the '50s. Cigarette in hand and intoning in that rich baritone that makes women go weak in the knees, Fawad is every inch the movie star.
You wouldn't think it to look at him but his newfound stardom post-Khoobusrat is not something the 33-year-old is entirely comfortable with. "Yes, life has changed since the movie came out and all the attention does make me conscious. I am the sort of person who runs away from the limelight so there are times when I get exhausted. Having said that, any star who claims that they get mobbed every single day of their lives is totally bullsh***ing. It doesn't even happen to Shahrukh Khan anymore. The public has learnt to take celebrities in their stride. As for my popularity, I think the insanity is just a fad, people will get over it in a month or two," he says with a self-deprecating smile.
He couldn't be further than the truth. Had Fawad been just a pretty face, he might have faded from collective memory after a brief spell but he's a seriously good actor too, so much so that even critics who panned Khoobusrat for its clichd plot were forced to laud his talent. Top that with his impeccable manners and his effortless charm and it's easy to see why columnist Shobhaa De would gush over him and "and shamelessly drool each time Fawad takes in his breath and intones the royal Hum...'"
Mention the rather explicit article that De wrote about Fawad for an Indian website and he squirms in embarrassment. "It's flattering," he says, trying to find the right words to convey his unease with his status as the reigning heartthrob of not one but two countries. "Honestly, I find the title totally inaccurate. I fail to see what the fuss is about. I guess I'm fresh meat," he jokingly quips.
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How does his wife deal with all the female attention? It can't be easy watching your husband romance the gorgeous Sonam onscreen. "One of the sexiest things about Sadaf is that she's a woman, she's not a girl. She can take all this in her stride. Yes, she's possessive but she's not a control freak. She knows this my job and the better I am at it, the better I'll be able to pay the bills."
Clearly besotted with his college sweetheart and now wife of eight years, Fawad dismisses the idea that celebrity marriages are singularly prone to ending in disaster, given the temptations at hand. "I think marriage is hard work, whether you're a star or a regular person and the odds of it breaking up are the same across the board. I can only speak for myself and I am completely in love with my wife. She's everything I want in a woman - she's sensible, she's smart and she's one of the most stylish people I've ever seen," he declares.
PART 1 - END
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