Miss independent: Momal made it to Bollywood sans father’s help


Momal will be seen essaying the role of a Pakistani girl, Zoya, in the upcoming movie. PHOTO: FILE

Momal will be seen essaying the role of a Pakistani girl, Zoya, in the upcoming movie. PHOTO: FILE

After Humaima Malick and Mahira Khan, Momal Sheikh is the latest addition to the list of Pakistani actors set to make their mark in Bollywood.

Momal, who will be seen alongside Abhay Deol in her upcoming Bollywood film Happy Bhaag Jayegi, revealed that she managed to get the part purely on her own merit, without her father veteran actor Javed Sheikh’s help.

“My father told them that he has never recommended his children since he wants them to make their careers on their own. Nonetheless, they contacted me and it was only then that I got to know about this entire incident,” she said, elaborating that the makers of Happy Bhaag Jayegi asked her father for recommendations for the character but he didn’t endorse her.

She further said that hers is the only sensible character in the movie, The Indian Express reported. “What is truly interesting is that my character, Zoya, takes decisions for all others in the story. While everyone around me is in the haphazard mode,” she said, adding that her role helps other disoriented characters in the film. “She is there to gauge the situation and then make good for everyone.”

According to Momal, it was easy for her to play a Pakistani. “They wanted a Pakistani girl who could speak Urdu flawlessly and someone who could take a stand. I was game for it.”

In an interview with Press Trust of India, actor Abhay Deol said that playing a Pakistani alongside Momal wasn’t difficult as he had studied Urdu when he was 19. He also shared that there are a lot of cultural similarities between India and Pakistan. “69 years of independence [sic] isn’t going to change thousands of years of being in the same culture. I am not playing a character that is foreign to me. I am a Punjabi and most of the Punjab is in Pakistan. I have the right colour and right accent, if I have to speak Punjabi,” Abhay was quoted as saying.


Original news : http://tribune.com.pk/story/1158133/miss-independent-momal-made-bollywood-sans-fathers-help/