'Stay connected to your roots'

Express Tribune

20-02-2025

Despite the glitz and glamour of a career in showbiz, actors Zara Noor Abbas and Imran Abbas remain firm that the face they present to the world is their true self. As joint guests on Asim Yar Tiwana's show Star and Style, both Zara and Imran opened up about how they have resisted the pressures of conformity while maintaining a career in the spotlight.
"When you come to this industry, people try to change you a lot in accordance to their own level of comfort," explained Zara. "But the real success and win-win situation is when you remain true to yourself and stay connected to your roots. And as for the people who manage to keep up a facade – [hats off] to them!"
Joining Zara on the guests' couch, Imran appeared to concur with his fellow actor about the importance of remaining honest with oneself. Stressing the importance of remaining natural, the Amanat actor responded to questions about his youthful appearance by saying, "People always ask if I have got surgeries and so on – it is nothing like that."
According to Imran, the secret to looking young is to convince yourself that you are young to begin with. "Think young, and it will reflect on your face and on your personality," he advised. "Yes, I have a strict diet, but if you think you are young, it changes your whole body."
The actor added that despite those in the industry advising him to tweak certain things about himself in order to become more appealing, he refuses to change anything if it would come at the cost of his own comfort.
"I am very pure-hearted. I am not trying to praise myself, but I am proud to say that I have never, not even in my acting, ever tried to change who I really am," shared Imran. Offering a personal example, he elaborated, "During my acting, people have asked me to talk in a deeper voice, but I always said no because I knew I would stop being comfortable within just a few minutes."
Zara warmly endorsed the pure heart Imran spoke of by adding, "My family's personal favourite is Imran. My Khala [veteran Bushra Ansari] and Amma [actor Asma Abbas] are in love with him and his genuine beauty and his heart. There is no pretentiousness, there are no lies."
As a first-time mother with a young baby, Zara has hit pause on her acting journey to focus on her YouTube show What MomSense?!, where she invites other celebrities who are mothers to share their experiences. Imran, meanwhile, was recently seen in the film Jee Ve Sohneya Jee (2024), a cross-border love story.