Renowned filmmaker Wajahat Rauf, in a surprise move, dropped the teaser of his upcoming film Chhalawa, a few days back. The film boasts a stellar star cast which includes the likes of Mehwish Hayat, Azfar Rehman, Zara Noor Abbas and Asad Siddiqui. However, one person who has been part of Rauf’s previous two films, both on and off the screen, was missing and his absence was greatly felt. Yup, we’re talking about actor and writer Yasir Hussain.

Galaxy Lollywood got in touch with Yasir to find out why he wasn’t a part of the film.

Yasir revealed that he has written the script of this film with Wajahat who is a “very dear friend.” He shared that he felt the character was very similar to his previous roles and he felt like he wanted to do something different.

Yasir went onto joke that his best friend Asad Siddiqui is part of the film and if he had cast himself, Asad wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity.

Wajahat had previously announced that he was making a third part of the Karachi Se Lahore series and a script for that had reportedly been finalised as well. However, that project was soon shelved.

On why the film didn’t happen, Hussain revealed that the film got stalled because of Ahmed Ali Akbar, who was shooting for his other film, Laal Kabootar, at the same time and the makers didn’t want to make the film with a new cast. Hence, the project got cancelled.

Yasir on his upcoming projects

Nonetheless, Yasir has plenty on his hands to keep him busy. Speaking to GL about his upcoming projects, he says, “I’m currently writing a script for a film. Apart from that, Anwar Maqsood’s popular drama Aangan Tehra is being made into a film and we’re working on a script for that.”

He adds, “I’m also occupied with my upcoming theater play, Naach Na Jaane, a prequel to Aangan Tehra. I’ll be playing the character of Akbar, which was previously played by the late Saleem Nasir. It will soon be showing in Karachi, after which we will take it to Lahore and Islamabad.”

Shedding some light on the plot of the play, Yasir said that the play is a prequel to Angan Tehra and will be set in the 1970s, when Zia-ul-Haq came to power and shut down all dance academies and other cultural activities in the country.

He continued, “My character, Akbar, was a classical dancer, who was part of a dancing academy. However, after Zia shut down everything, Akbar was forced to work as a cook in a CSP officer’s house.”

Everything said, we cannot wait to see Yasir on stage, as well as on our screens.