Ali Zafar's kissing dilemma

Pakistani singer-actor Ali Zafar , who has just delivered his second consecutive hit, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, after Tere Bin Laden (2010), is troubled by the to-kiss-or-not-to-kiss dilemma in films.

Pakistani singer-actor Ali Zafar , who has just delivered his second consecutive hit, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, after Tere Bin Laden (2010), is troubled by the to-kiss-or-not-to-kiss dilemma in films.

Zafar, 31, is now set to star in romantic comedy, London Paris New York, and is said to have several kissing scenes with co-star Aditi Rao Hydari (above left).

The actor earlier was quoted as saying: "My wife has no issues with it (kissing)." However, soon after Zafar’s publicist in Pakistan Ammara Hikmat clarified to The Express Tribune, "By intimate, Ali didn’t mean obscene scenes... By intimate, he means a cozy and romantic film."

Hikmat claimed Zafar was joking at the press conference in India when he said, “Well, I do make sure to brush my teeth as soon as I wake up because I’d be doing very intimate scenes.”

However Hikmat clarified, “He (Zafar) believes that everyone has the right to express their own freedom of speech and action in reasonably defined parameters. He tries his best to keep general values of his home country in mind and work in a way where he can fulfil his professional obligations and not disappoint his fans at the same time. We have witnessed his choices to do this and make us proud.”

Earlier, Pakistani actor Meera was threatened by radical elements after she had a controversial kissing scene in filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s Nazar, five years ago.

More recently, Veena Malik, who was part of popular Indian reality TV show Bigg Boss, had her share of troubles on her return to Pakistan with several clerics accusing her of having no character and of bringing a bad name to the country.