Fawad Khan’s Effortless Calm Is What Makes Him Irresistible

What makes Fawad Khan the delectable actor that he is? The Quint decodes his ethereal calm exterior.

Fawad Khan in a still from Khoobsurat (Photo Courtesy: Youtube screengrab)

Some may call me fickle-minded as I graduated from absolute loyalty towards Shah Rukh Khan to growing admiration for Fawad Khan. The transition happened almost seamlessly after watching Khoobsurat. The truth is, I never stopped loving Shah Rukh. The actor is never insecure in the screen space he shares with his female co-actors. He loves women and respects them equally – a feminist role-model of sorts.

Of late, however, he seems to have taken a detour. He has progressed from being just an actor to a businessman. Simultaneously, he has stopped experimenting with roles. So I am relatively guilt-free when I ogle at Khans who are not Badshah himself.

Fawad Khan is happiness for all seasons.

(‘Happiness’ in my dictionary can be auto-corrected to ‘love’).

Just the mention of Fawad Khan’s name in The Quint’s newsroom is enough to leave even the most high-nosed journalists sighing. Almost immediately, there is animated discussion about his charm, his ethereal presence on-screen; not to mention his baritone voice – the quintessential romantic hero.

Khuda Kay Liye movie poster. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Khuda Kay Liye)

It’s been a poetic journey for Fawad Khan so far. He etched a remarkable place in our hearts with his performance as an inadvertent terrorist in Khuda Key Liye. He jumped to the small screen almost simultaneously. For India however, the lag was a painful seven years before he wowed us on screen again.

A still from Humsafar, Fawad Khan’s small screen show. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Humsafar)

I was always a “I-never-watch” television person when it came to Indian dramas till a friend recommended the Zindagi channel. I disagreed with the content of both Humsafar and Zindagi Gulzar Hai, but serials are one thing and the actor is another. In particular, one person stayed with me – Fawad Khan.

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When a journalist once asked Fawad to describe himself, he almost instantly called himself ‘an old-world romantic’. ‘Old-world’ perhaps is an appropriate word for him; he could easily be a character out of an Austen novel, minus the stoicism and ‘prejudice’, of course.

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A photo from one of Fawad and Sadaf’s wedding functions (Photo Courtesy: www.fashioncentral.pk)

Khan, the family man

We are in desperate need of a stable relationship in Bollywood. Khan has not only been married to the love of his life for ten years, he had dated her for almost eight years before that. At a time when the institution seems to be crumbling, Khan comes in as a saviour.

Faward Khan and Sonam Kapoor in a still from Khoobsurat (Photo Courtesy: Youtube)

Princely, Old World Charm

In Khoobsurat, Fawad Khan essays the role of a prince who is an uptight, shrewd professional with a delectably mellow heart. In Kapoor and Sons, he plays a writer who is tossed between his sexuality and domestic matters.

As a person too, there is an almost old-fashioned courtesy in him that makes him tremendously appealing. He blushes at the mere mention of ‘sex’, while we have a tough time containing the ‘gande khayal’ that in our heads. In an interview recently, he said how he was scared of his father-in-law – old world mannerisms somehow fit graciously on him!

Fawad Khan, Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt in Kapoor & Sons (Photo Courtesy: YouTube/KapoorandSons Trailer)

An all-rounder in the true sense

This man can sing (he was a part of Entity Paradigm, a Pakistan-based music band before he ventured into acting), he can play the drums and the guitar, he can dance and he can act! He is all of 34 and has just scratched the surface as far as Bollywood is concerned. Quite contrary to the Shiv Sainiks’ unnecessary rant about ‘sending Pakistani actors back to Pakistan’, we are letting him go nowhere.

Lastly, there is a sense of calmness and equanimity about the man. He doesn’t seem the sort who gets ruffled easily – a trait that many in the industry lack.

To the man himself, I’d like to say: You are the Khan of all seasons and I would like to watch you more on screen. You do read your scripts well. Just re-read them again to cleanse them of misogynistic overtones (read item numbers) and you will be the next true-blue actor. It would not take us a moment to own you. Pardon the ‘gande khayal’.

I shall leave you with a quote by the humble Khan who is self-disparaging when someone calls him ‘handsome’

I find it hard to believe. It bothers me sometimes. I don’t think I am a very handsome person. If I felt I was handsome, then I would flaunt it. I would flaunt it in many ways.