Pakistani actor Imran Abbas caught in political turmoil

Imran Abbas

The prevailing political turmoil in Islamabad has put a question mark on whether Pakistani actor Imran Abbas will be able to come down to Mumbai for the promotions of his Bollywood debut, Creature 3D. The film is slated to release on September 12.

Pakistani actor Imran Abbas

The Islamabad-based actor, has been facing visa issues, due to which he has been unable to promote his film in Mumbai. His co-star Bipasha Basu has been making solo appearances at events.

Islamabad has witnessed escalating protests from the opposition led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and cleric Tahur il -Qadri, who wish to bring down the Nawaz Sharif government. This has only added to the actor's woes as it's getting more difficult to get his paperwork done on time. When asked about Imran making it to Mumbai for the film's promotions, director Vikram Bhatt said, "I doubt it."

But Imran has not given up on hope. The actor says, "I will arrive in a few days. It was just a small delay in the process. I will join the unit soon. In fact, Creature 3D is releasing in Pakistan on the same day."

Earlier, as reported in our story, ‘Visa woes' (hitlist, July 18), the actor didn't make it to the trailer launch of the film in July due to visa issues. Imran was last in Mumbai in June when he launched a channel that airs Pakistani serials; he stars in one of its shows, Mera Naseeb. The actor apparently had to wait for sometime before applying for a visa again.