nasir khan playing karan in kkusum.
https://www.the-south-asian.com/May2004/images/Nasir-2.jpg
https://www.the-south-asian.com/May2004/nasirkhantvstarindia. htm
NASIR KHAN
- 'NO JOKE BEING A STAR SON'
by
Avinash Kalla
Nasir Khan - "The small screen is the big medium."
As the son of legendary comedian Johnny Walker, he should have had everything going for him. But little did Nasir Khan realise that in Bollywood there are many a miss between a hit and a flop….
As the son of legendary comedian late Johnny Walker, he should have had everything going for him. But five years after he started, Nasir Khan has realised that in Bollywood you are as big as your last success. And when that last success is nowhere in sight you are instantly consigned to the list of failed stars.
The start itself was disappointing. Nasir signed Sohail Khan's Ram but the film was canned. Then Bobby Khan offered him Dam Dam Diga Diga. This film too hit a roadblock and was dumped. He was hoping to get great mileage from Mehmood's film, Dushman Duniya Ka but the film collapsed at the box office.
" It was a very inauspicious beginning," admits Nasir, who has had a promising start to his second innings playing the youngest son of Amitabh Bachchan in Baghbaan. But more than that he is all worked up playing Siddharth, a successful businessman with a golden heart in Kabhi Aaye Na Judai on Star Plus.
Nasir says life for him is now a freedom of choices but he will be concentrating on television. And ad films as well. " Those are closest to my heart. They sustained me when I was going through the leanest period of my life."
Ironically, back in the late nineties even as he was failing on the film front he started being snapped up for ad films-- Pepsi, Limca, Asian Paints, Nestle Milkmaid, Close Up, Newport Jeans, Bata Shoes to name a few. And there were music videos as well like Sonu Nigam's Teri Haan Haan Teri Naa Naa, Raageshwari's Is Haath De and more.
" These ads and music videos were a great learning curve and I also got noticed on TV. Channel V signed me for Videocon Flashback, Sony for Pehli Mulaquat and Zee for Eno Fun Filmi Style. Then came serials like Mehndi Tere Naam Ki, Voh, Aashirwad and Kasam," says Nasir who has also done dubbing assignments for Hollywood blockbusters like Alladin, Independence Day and Braveheart.
Despite his lean luck in films, he soldiered on. " I wanted to prove to my father I wasn't a failure. He never discouraged me from joining films but warned me about the uncertainties of the career and said that I should first become a professional in some other field. Only after I'd done computer designing from America did my dad relent."
Nasir feels being the son of a famous father may be disadvantageous. " I've gone through it. Initially people judge your performances on the basis of the high standards set up by your father. They don't understand the son is just starting off whereas the father has been around for years."
But Nasir's big regret is that Johnny Walker died sometime before the phenomenonal success of Baghbaan or for that matter his top-rated TV serial Kabhi Aaye Na Judai
" He may be no more, but I can hear my father say that television is the future for me. So I'll pick up all good roles on TV. And there are plenty coming my way. The small screen is the big medium and I want to channelize my energies on serious roles."
Serious roles? Being the son of one of India's greatest comedians, has he never thought of doing comedy? " My father was the king of comedy. No one could match him---least of all me. If I get a good comedy I'll think ten times. Comedy is serious business. My father never took it lightly. And I'll always be at a disadvantage of being compared to my dad."
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