‘I don’t feel safe anywhere’

Your terrorist act in Shoot On Sight was the reason for the film getting banned in Pakistan...
It was banned first, though later, it did get the approval. But considering the sensitive situation now, the release will be delayed further.
Is the negative response from your country one of the reasons why you want to shift base to Mumbai?
The response wasn���t negative.Pirated DVDs of the film are available in Pakistan and people who���ve watched it, have accepted the film as a work of fiction. Besides, how seriously can one take fiction? To me, it was just a role and I didn���t mean to hurt the Pakistani sentiments. After working with Jag (Mundhra), I���ve become spoilt. I���m serious about doing films now. In Pakistan, the film industry is almost non-existent, while Bollywood is going from strength to strength. I want to be part of it. I���m certainly not being kicked out of my
country!
Do you think the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai will affect the cultural exchange between the two countries?
I hope not. We���ve been together for 5,000 years and separated for just a little over 50 years. When I���m in Mumbai, I don���t feel I���m outside my country ��� hamare uthne baithne ke andaaz ek hai. It���s the same food that we gorge on and the same language that we speak. Indians should do away with anti-Pakistan sentiments, if there���s any. We are all suffering because of certain extremist groups, which sadly, are operating from our country. Fear is something that we live with, every single day. Terror attacks have become part and parcel of our day-to-day living in Pakistan. On behalf of Pakistanis, I condemn the 26/11 terror attack. I���m sure Indians will understand that it���s not Pakistan or Pakistanis who are behind such heinous acts, but a section of fundamentalists. To me, there���s no difference between Taj, Oberoi or Marriott. In such troubled times, we need to join hands and fight back together.
With Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali���s eight-city tour having got cancelled, aren���t you scared of a similar fate?
I���ve heard about it and can���t help feeling sad. I���m looking forward to my February visit to India and hope things calm down by then. I���ve been there six to eight times and as I said, it feels like my own country. It would be really childish if Bollywood decides not to work with people from Pakistan. It���s obvious for Indians to get angry with what has happened but let investigation take its own course. Truth should come to the fore. It might be challenging for me to start from scratch in Bollywood, but it���s more challenging for Bollywood to rise beyond the issue and accept us with open arms.
You are playing the lead in Jag Mundhra���s Room Mates...
I���ve only got the brief on the storyline. It���s a love triangle with two girls and me. All of us will be shown living in the same apartment. It���s a romantic thriller.
Tell us a little about your real-life room-mates, now that you are planning to share an apartment with Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar.
It���s in the planning stage. Atif, Ali, Iman Ali (of Khuda Kay Liye fame) and I are good friends. We hang out together. We were discussing that if we shift base to Mumbai, it would be a good idea to stay together and help each other, inshallah! It���s not that we plan to have a lobby of our own, but as freshers, we can stand by each other.
When you travel, you must be putting up at five-star hotels. Do you feel safe anymore?
I���m based in Lahore and am in Karachi for shooting, right now. Because of security concerns, I���m not staying at a five-star hotel. In fact, the terror attacks in the past months have left me worried. The thought ��� is this the next target? ��� crosses my mind whenever I���m staying at a hotel. I don���t feel safe anymore ��� be it in India or Pakistan.