Imran Ashraf, Sarah Khan are winning twitter with their onscreen chemistry

Imran Ashraf and Sarah Khan-starrer Raqs-e-Bismil concluded yesterday and its finale did not disappoint fans. The chemistry between Moosa and Zohra has swept Twitter users off their feet and Ashraf could not be happier. Khan’s husband, Falak Shabir, also recorded her reaction after the finale went on-air.

The actor expressed how elated she felt after viewers appreciated the play for ending on a positive note, following which, several praised the serial, Khan and Ashraf on the micro-blogging site. Thus, taking to his own Twitter, Ashraf wrote, “Today I have celebrated the success of Raqs-e-Bismil and your love like a child who celebrates his new which he had been wanting for ages. I am grateful to you all, now I would like to sleep.”

Nevertheless, here’s what netizens had to say.:

Earlier, Ashraf had opened up about his life struggles, his character Moosa and how he looks at harassment in an interview with the BBC.

The serial saw his character and his onscreen brother, Essa, carrying forward their father’s patriarchal traditions while oppressing the women of their family to control every aspect of their lives. While Khan played the role of an escort in the garb of a modest and religious woman.

About nabbing the role amid lockdown, Ashraf said, “The pandemic had erupted and after the role of Bhola… I didn’t get what I was looking for. So when I got a call from showcase productions’ Shazia Wajahat, and she started narrating the script, I instantly got up and I said, ‘Bhaabi, no one will do this but me, please.’”

He then recalled how in the first serial he ever did with Khan, he played the role of a supporting character named Gohr e Nayab. Asked if he enjoyed working with Khan, Ashraf said, “Sarah is a very smart girl with zero antics, being on set with her is peaceful. She is only concerned with the scene she has to perform.”

But the actor is then questioned if his characters’ stalking or what would qualify as street harassment habits – which are usually romanticised in dramas – are detrimental in real life. To this he says, “Street harassment is wrong and it shouldn’t happen, but it happens. So how will you show that on television? And I know my character’s stalking qualifies as harassment, but he also tells the heroine that he never wanted to know the way to her house or meet alone. He just wanted to send a proposal. And I don’t think anybody should be denied the right of proposing.”