It should’ve been ‘Main Hoon Humayun Saeed’: Shahid Afridi comments on 2013 film

World-famous cricketer and former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team Shahid Afridi recently appeared as a guest on Vasay Chaudhry’s live audience talk show Gup Shab and during the episode, he spoke openly on a number of topics.

During the 34-minute episode, the ace cricketer also shared his thoughts on the Pakistani film Main Shahid Afridi Hoon starring Humayun Saeed, which was not a biopic but based on a fictitious narrative. This discussion came up when Afridi admitted to the fact that he grew fond of watching Punjabi dramas because of his teammate Abdul Razzaq who got him hooked to Punjabi content. The host then asked him about the kinds of films he enjoys and sheepishly confessed that he wrote the screenplay for Main Shahid Afridi Hoon.  

“Oh, you wrote that film? Its title should have been ‘Main Hoon Humayun Saeed’,” said Afridi in response to Vasay’s confession and amidst the audience’s laughter at the quip.

“Humayun came to me and said ‘Lala we are making this film’ and I gave him permission to use my name. You must have seen the film Munna Bhai MBBS. People were given a lot of amazing messages through that film, so I told him if it’s a film like that, then why not? I myself will make an appearance in that film. But the condition is that people should get good messages from the film,” added Afridi while explaining his thought process behind giving Humayun the go-ahead to use his name for the film’s title, which was bound to attract large audiences.

“When I finally watched the film, I told Humayun that you gave the film the wrong title. He asked me ‘Why Lala? What happened?’. And I told him the name of the film should have been ‘Main Hoon Humayun Saeed’ because you are everywhere in the film. I didn’t see any good message in the film,” joked Afridi.

In the same segment of the show, Afridi revealed that he wished for a biopic to be made in his name, which would relay his inspiring journey of becoming a cricket sensation: “It is my desire that a film be made on my life and the experiences that I’ve been through”.