Actor Ali Abbas sat down with BBC Urdu for an interview where he was asked about the growing discussion about nepotism in the entertainment industry, since he is the son of critically acclaimed actor Waseem Abbas. To this, Ali Abbas responded by saying that something like nepotism did not exist,:
“Nepotism is a myth and it doesn’t exist in the entertainment industry. It’s just an excuse for bitter people to complain about not getting jobs just to blame other people for getting them. Because if this case was true, Abhishek Bachchan would have been one of the most successful celebrities in Bollywood but he isn’t. So please give me a list of actors who are from famous families and are successful.”
Instead the actor insisted that in the Pakistani entertainment industry, favoritism was more common, because agencies keep working with the same actors whom they believe are a part of the essential formulae for a successful show:
“In Pakistan, more than nepotism I have witnessed favoritism. Because people quickly picked up on nepotism after Kangana Ranaut in India began speaking about it publicly. However you would notice that production agencies in Pakistan keep working with the same 5-6 actors who have made hit drama’s in the past because they believe they’re essential to creating a successful show.”
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Coming on to whether he would want his children to join the entertainment industry, the actor responded by saying that he would and doesn’t discriminate between the two of them:
“I would want both of my children to join the entertainment industry if it is their wish since I have a lot of respect for acting. This profession is my bread and butter and I would find it alright if my children thought of it in the same way. I don’t discriminate between the two and the sole thing I want both of them to keep in mind is to be mindful of their behavior as well of their clothing. Because I have a son and daughter and I am always making sure that I treat them equally.”
Ali Abbas was also asked about whether he discussed his shows with his father, and the actor responded by saying that he didn’t because he often held back due to fear:
“I do not discuss my shows with my father because I am consistently afraid since he is considered to be a legend, but I do discuss them with other people. Sometimes he will come up to me and tell me I did a good job for a show and that’s more than enough for me. My father tries very hard not to publicly associate himself with me since he’s aware of how my hard work could be easily over-shadowed by the sole fact that I’m his relation.”
Ali Abbas also discussed the winners for the Lux Style Awards and pointed out that the show considers itself to be very “classy” hence it only hands out awards to successful people, yet this year he was happy that previously under rated people like Yumna Zaidi and Danish Taimoor had won in the major categories after the show faced backlash:
“I think that the Lux Style Awards are more of a show than about awards, since they consider themselves to be classy hence they don’t give deserving actors a chance to win on their platforms. But I’m happy that most of the people who won this time were people like Yumna Zaidi, Bilal Ashraf and Danish Taimoor who weren’t winning anything in the past. It’s because people began criticizing the show for solely giving awards to famous celebrities only. A lot of people tell me to refrain from speaking out about this since they claim Lux might never nominate me for an award, but I always reply back by saying that the show hasn’t nominated me in the past so why bother now.”
You can watch his full interview below
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