Sanam Saeed On Working In India After Barzakh: ‘When Actors From Other Side Feel Safe To Work With Us…’ – News18

Sanam Saeed recently reunited with her Zindagi Gulzaar Hai co-star Fawad Khan for Barzakh. Much like their previous collaboration, their new show has also intrigued fans in India. Fawad Khan, especially, has a massive fan following in India due to Bollywood projects like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Kapoor and Sons. However, Sanam is yet to make her Bollywood debut as Pakistani artists were previously banned from working in India after the 2016 URI attack.

Now that Pakistani artists can work in India again, what are Sanam’s ambitions? She said, “I never came to India to work, so I cannot say that I miss it because I haven’t experienced it. But with time, things will happen.”

She said, “This is a big enough deal that Zee collaborates with us and that we have this cross-cultural exchange. The fact that we are on Indian OTT platforms is quite a huge feat in itself… Baki when actors from the other side of the border feel confident and safe enough to act with us, and things change, then that exchange will definitely happen.”

“Because it has happened before. We have had festivals where we have had Indian actors come to Pakistan and be a part of the festival. We have had our superstars go to India and act. So, it’s just a matter of time when art and culture can merge again,” she added.

Although Sanam hasn’t worked in India yet, she feels that Indians are her long-lost siblings. She told the Hindustan Times, “They’re like my long-lost siblings. We just grew up in different homes. Essentially, we are of the same land, same blood in many ways, but we just grew up differently over the years. It was nice to reconnect (through Barzakh) with those long-lost siblings.”

She added, “For Indians more so than us. Because we are accustomed to Indian cultures and we are used to seeing what Indians are like through Bollywood and Star Plus. But Indians had not seen us. It was this really beautiful exchange that happened (through Zindagi) where people’s eyes were opened up and Indian people really got an insight into their long lost siblings.”

Speaking about the love Sanam has received for her new show, she said, “The feedback has been quite overwhelming. And very interesting exactly what we hoped for. Mesmerised, blown away and proud are just the adjectives that I’ve gotten to hear.”

“There’s so many things and factors that have stimulated people in terms of the cinematography, the grading, the colour palette, the costumes, and the acting. People are really overwhelmed, intrigued, curious and have slowly understood that this is not a show that they can just binge-watch. It’s something that they have to really focus on and watch with a lot of attention,” she added.