SRINAGAR, July 31: He is only 23 years old and has walked the ramp at 50 fashion shows including the recently held Bangalore Fashion Week. He has already acted in a Hindi film ‘Jaan Leva’ and has signed deals for another four movies. Meet the new film ‘hero’ from Kashmir, Abrar Zahoor.
Zahoor was born and brought up in Kashmir and studied at the Madras Christian College in Chennai. He shifted completely to Bangalore two years ago and has already been cherishing success. This six feet tall, brown eyed Kashmiri youth has just signed a three-movie contract with Billboards India’s Ovez Khan Mastan. He has also signed a Telugu flick.
“I have signed a three-movie contract with them. None of the film’s names or other actors are out yet, but I will be playing a lead role in their next three films. I’m also happy to be the only one in the city to get a Suzuki Hayabusa worth 15 lakh rupees as the signing amount,” says Zahoor.
‘Making up’
The actor is among a small (but significant) number of young faces from Kashmir who have made some space in the Mumbai film industry also called Bollywood. For that matter, a whole new generation of cine-goers was lost in more than two decades of conflict in the valley since the early nineties. Cinemas were closed down and youth preferred taking up the gun than giving a thought to career, leave alone choosing to act in films.
But then in 2005 singer Luck Ali’s famous album Kabhi Aisa Lagta Hai shot to fame Kashmir’s Muzamil Ibrahim who acted in the song videos. He made his début into Bollywood with the movie titled Dhoka directed by Pooja Bhatt, written by Mahesh Bhatt and produced by Mukesh Bhatt.
For the film Ibrahim was nominated for “Best Newcomer” at both the Filmfare awards, Star TV awards and the Stardust awards.
In 2005, another valley youth, Iqbal Khan rose to prominence as Angad in TV serial Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai.
‘Augurous’
And the year 2012 as well does seem to have sunny signs for Kashmiris in the Bollywood film industry. Zahoor will be shooting for his hindi film in November this year after working in Hyderabad for his Telugu project.
Also, Iqbal Khan’s new upcoming film ‘Unforgettable’ will be released this year and Muzamil Ibrahim’s third movie ‘Will You Marry Me?’ is currently filming. The film will star Shreyas Talpade, Rajeev Khandelwal and Mugdha Godse.
Young Zahoor has also been pulled in as the managing director of a talent firm and will be scouting for raw talent from Bangalore.
“Though I’m only 23, I have had good exposure in the last few years, so I feel it’s the right time for me to groom young talent. There are a lot of youngsters who want to get into acting and modelling,” says the young actor who has also done at least six commercials.
“I get a lot of people coming up to me and saying I look like John Abraham, especially my dimples and smile, but I like to stay away from such comparisons. I want to create my own identity.”
(With inputs from Deccan Chronicle)
