Shabir Ahluwalia tells why he didn't do more movies despite 'many films' coming his way

New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) Popular television actor Shabir Ahluwalia made his film debut in 2007 with Apoorva Lakhia’s action thriller Shootout at Lokhandwala, and a year later, he appeared in Mission Istaanbul. However, he stopped signing films after 2008, as he says the kind of scripts he wanted to do never came his way.

Asked why he never did films post 2008 despite getting a lot of love for playing RC in Shootout at Lokhandwala, Shabir told IANS: “I believe in scripts. When those kinds of scripts didn’t come my way, I didn’t want to do movies. I didn’t want to do it for the sake of doing it.”

He did have a slew of movies coming his way.

“A lot of films came my way. But it’s not the subject that I wanted to do. It’s not the role that I wanted to play and I wouldn’t do it just for money, or just to be in a movie, or just to be in an ensemble.”

For Shabir, making a difference with his project is important.

“I want to do it because I want to make a difference to the project. I want to make a difference to the character. I want to... My character should take the story forward and it should be something that moves the audiences.”

He added: If I think I can’t do that in a movie or an OTT, I will not do it. I will do it in whichever medium, but I do it to entertain my fans.”

Shootout at Lokhandwala is based on the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout, a real-life gun battle between gangsters and the Mumbai Police, it stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Vivek Oberoi, Arbaaz Khan, Tusshar Kapoor, Rohit Roy, Aditya Lakhia, and Shabbir Ahluwalia.

Talking about Mission Istaanbul, the 2008 action thriller film is directed by Apoorva Lakhia. It stars Vivek Oberoi, Zayed Khan, and Shriya Saran. The film is based on an organisation Al Johara which bears a resemblance to Qatar-based news channel, which was criticized by the White House as being an outlet for terrorists.

Currently, Shabir is seen in Sony SAB's romantic-comedy, "Ufff… Yeh Love Hai Mushkil”, a passionate, fun love tale set against the backdrop of a crazy household.

The show tells the story of a determined young woman named Kairi raising her three siblings, who clashes with Yug Sinha, a lawyer sceptical of women and scarred by his past.

--IANS

dc/