By Umer Nangiana
From dreamer to a high-flier, it did not take him too long. Good looks, a decent savoir faire of his trade and lady luck; he found them all. While the first two combined kept him a luminary all his life and a performer in entertainment industry, his fortuity landed him his dream role at the peak of his acting career.
What’s more — it coincides with just the beginning of his stint in Bollywood, one of the biggest film industries in the world.
Imran Abbas, a Pakistani actor from the capital Islamabad, would never have imagined coming across, let alone work with, one of his ideals: the legendary Bollywood director Muzaffar Ali, the maker of the cult film Umrao Jaan (1981).
The film was released to critical and commercial acclaim a year before Imran Abbas was born. He, however, has “grown up watching and loving Umrao Jaan” in its entirety. This year, Abbas has completed Ali’s next big project Jaanisaar — currently, in post-production.
The film marks the iconic filmmaker’s return to cinema after more than a decade. Abbas plays the lead as Prince of Avadh opposite Pernia Qureshi, who plays a courtesan.
“Jaanisaar is very close to my heart. I am a huge fan of Muzaffar Ali sahib and I was very fortunate that I got a chance to work with him. I grew up watching Umrao Jaan,” Abbas tells Community soon after his show stopping ramp-walk for top designer Hasan Sheheryar Yasin (HSY) at the Mercedes-Benz Pakistan Fashion Week Doha (PFWD) 2015, held recently at the Marriot Doha.
Out of his designer outfit and into a more casual greyish check coat over a blue shirt, he has just emerged from a lengthy selfie session with fans outside the venue.
As we sit down in the hotel’s lobby, Abbas can hardly contain his excitement over Jaanisaar. Like Umrao Jaan, it is a period film and set in Lucknow of 20 years after Umrao Jaan.  
“Because I am an artist; I am a classical singer, a very good poet, a painter and I have studied architecture, so I have loved this architecture of Lucknow, this poetry in the film, this dance in the film choreographed by Birju Maharaj and Kumudini Lakhia and the music. Everything has been perfectly done,” Abbas declares, with a smile.
Ali spotted Abbas during the making of his Bollywood debut Creature 3D, opposite Bipasha Basu, and offered him the role in Jaanisaar. 
This film is about a royal prince and set in the Lucknow of 1877. Exactly where Umrao Jaan ends, it starts, says Abbas.
“Even if I had not gotten the role, I would have gone to see the film. I had a great desire to see Muzaffar Ali. And when I was offered the film, it was like a dream come true for me. I feel very excited and honoured to be part of this film,” says Abbas, who began his career in showbiz by modeling a decade ago. He is an architect graduate from Lahore’s famous National College of Arts.
Abbas owes his fame to countless television plays and some of his recent drama projects are currently running on top private entertainment channels across Pakistan.
Did his exceptionally good looks get him started in modelling? 
“I don’t know. Yes, may be. But I think it is a combination of everything. I know people who are very good looking, ten times better looking than I am, but they could not make it big,” says Abbas.
“It is just the blessing of God because I do not consider myself very good looking or even a very good actor. It is just God’s blessing and my mother’s prayers,” the actor says decidedly, if humbly.
As actor, he began with two TV projects at the same time. The one aired first was Sultana Siddiqui’s drama Shayad Kay Bahar Aye (Perhaps, Spring is Due) for Pakistan Television. And then he did Umrao Jaan which, he says, was the biggest ever serial at the time on the private Geo Entertainment TV channel.
Did he find acting difficult?
“Not really. When I started it was not difficult because I did not know the intricacies and details of acting. But now when I know, I think it has become more difficult,” says the young actor. However, Abbas believes acting is a talent that is ‘natural’.
“A singer cannot be made no matter how much you try; there is something that is inborn. The same is true for acting. If you are not an actor, you are not,” he argues.
Abbas says he does not follow any particular actor. But he likes those who are ‘natural’ at acting.
“I like Naseeruddin Shah more than any other actor who is a method actor. I like Amir Khan because he moulds himself into the character and is difficult to mimic,” says the Prince of Avadh from Jaanisaar.
After Jaanisaar, he has signed two more films with “very big directors” in Bollywood but he is not willing to divulge details about the projects at this stage.
Comparing the showbiz industries, particularly films, in India and Pakistan, Abbas says Bollywood’s magnitude is far bigger because India is a huge market.
Pakistan television industry however, he says, is not less than any other tele industry in the world. Both countries possess talent and creative minds where film-making is concerned. However, Abbas feels the real difference is evident in Pakistan’s lack of preference for art directors.
“They are the people who know (how) to stylise, to do colour scheming, to give anything a look of a painting because every frame is a painting. Film is basically, a painting in motion. I think it is a very essential department and we lack good art directors in Pakistani film industry,” admits the actor.
He would like to do different kinds of roles in future as he has been doing in television. From serious to romantic to negative and comic, he has attempted all. Abbas appreciates new filmmakers in Pakistan who, he says, are doing good work.
“It is good that they are experimenting. Every film will not be a hit, every film will not be super, but I think experimentation itself is a very healthy thing and (the fact that) these people (newcomers) are trying to take the plunge, it is a very healthy sign,” says the Pakistani actor.
He says the good aspect is that the new people have started making good commercial films which is essential to revive Pakistani cinema.
Abbas picks his films based on a good script. But he says a good director is more important. When it comes to Bollywood, there are multiple other factors such as a good banner, backing of a studio and, good actors at the same time are also essential, but if you have a good director, half the war is won, he says.
“A good director can turn an average script into a very good film, but if the director is not good he can ruin the best script in the world. You should have a very intelligent director,” Abbas reasons.
Where does he see himself a few years from now?
“I don’t plan my future. I like to go with the flow and live in the moment,” says the 32-year-old.
Abbas is a huge fan of yesteryear Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit and the legendary Pakistani comedian late Moeen Akhtar from PTV.
The star regrets that he hardly finds time to pursue all his passions in art, but he will soon be heard singing for one of his upcoming films in which he plays a singer.