18 out of 19 of my films flopped: Waseem Abbas

Small screen veteran recalls unsuccessful film career

Senior TV star Waseem Abbas used to dabble in cinema during his early years as an artist, which landed him 19 film projects. He spoke more about this forgotten endeavour in an interview on Showtime with Ramiz Raja.

"18 out of 19 (films I did) were flops," admitted the Aangan actor, jokingly and brazenly. "When my films would flop, and I would be sitting in the studio since it was our own family's production house, my own production house wouldn't cast me! I'd declare to my father that I don't want to work on a film."

"He'd ask me why. I'd simply say, 'Do you want the film to fail?' So whenever a producer would come to sign me up, I would just stare at him in disbelief and wonder why he's even here. I've served 15 flops and he's still here," Waseem confidently shared. "It got so bad that once a film would get released, I'd find out that the producer has left the studio."

Aside from the hiccups and demands of his career, the 64-year-old actor's personal life has also been nothing short of dramatic. Further into the show, he shared, "My uncle had a house that would usually be empty. I had one of its keys, the other stayed with him. I used to go there for checks frequently, and one day I noticed a man surveying the house."

"It seemed as if he was assessing that since no one lived in the house, it was an easy place to loot," Waseem continued. "Now, my sister was going to get married. A lot of our guests from Gujrat were over and staying in that very house. Out of those guests was a group of macho, armed men who had set up a gathering, and I was also sitting with them."

"Then, this unlucky burglar trespassed into the house on the same day. He leaped off the wall and we all heard a loud thud. When my uncle ordered someone to check, the burglar was dragged inside," Waseem said. "I am never going to forget the look on that man's face. This man, who didn't expect that anyone was living here, jumped over to rob this house, and what he encountered instead were about twenty men."

Waseem then mimicked the hilariously harrowing expression of the criminal. "I burst out laughing! But nothing violent came of it. We didn't punish him. We sat him down, gave him food, and set him free with the advice to stop this stealing business," the senior actor eventually concluded.

The narration of the story thoroughly highlighted Waseem's flair for the dramatic. No wonder the actor's performances, at least the drama serial ones, are hard to forget.