E X C L U S I V E
Ali, from music to acting to producing, how did it all start?
Ali: I acted in my first play 'Kaanch Key Par' when I was in the
first year of college. My friend was working as a set designer on the
project and convinced me to go audition.
After I auditioned, I got selected to play the role of the youngest
brother to four sisters. From there I did 'College Jeans', 'Landa
Bazaar' and a few TV plays. This was all to save up some money so
I could make my own music someday and it eventually did happen.
Simultaneously, the drama 'Landa Bazaar' was a big hit and I got
offers to act in more TV plays. All of this was so
overwhelming, that I had to disconnect myself
from the TV dramas so I could pursue what I
actually wanted to do, make music.
I started off with my music from there, in 2003,
the song 'Channo' was released and five years
down the line, I wanted to branch out.
In conversation with
Teefa and Anya aka
Ali Zafar and Maya Ali
After my trip to Bollywood, where I realised
that in India, the movie stars are what pop
musicians were to Pakistanis. This is when I
realised I wanted to be a star in India. Although discouraged a little
by my manager, I knew I would make it big someday.
Fast forward to 2008, I received three scripts, one was a Mahesh
Bhatt film, another script and the script for 'Tere Bin Laden'. Due to
the Osama Bin Laden issue, I was a little freaked out about doing the
film, but after hearing the narration from the director, I was blown
away. I knew it as a big risk, but at that time it seemed right as I
believed in the subject and the content. From there I was discovered
by Yash Raj, who then signed me up for 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'
and the rest, as they say, is history.
45