It’s not everyday that one gets to see an actor be cool with taking a joke (case in point Will Smith’s latest outburst). Often, celebrities become defensive and offended, but Pakistani…sorry, we mean British Asian actor Ahsan Khan is not one of them.
It all started when an old interview of Ahsan Khan’s resurfaced online, in which the actor seems to be putting on a British accent while speaking to the press. Khan was attending the Asian Achievers Awards, a platform that has been celebrating the achievements of South Asians in the UK for over two decades now. He had been in the UK for his role in a musical called Ishq which was performed at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre.Â
Khan’s British accent, and his claim of being a ‘British Asian’ actor had the Twitterati rolling up memes and jokes faster than we could say the viral line “here and there, yea”. For the past few days, all anyone can talk about is Ahsan Khan with the jokes having taken over social media:
sick of this hot weather wish i was british asian actor ahsan khan who lives here and there as well
— adiba (@notabida) March 31, 2022
https://twitter.com/peachcrisis/status/1509159286487855105
However, the real noteworthy development of all this fun is Ahsan Khan making a TikTok video with his children, poking fun at himself.
What words cannot do justice to is the very real and genuine laughter echoing across the phone when Something Haute got in touch with Khan to talk about his accent, the jokes and his response to the madness. “Don’t forget to tag this British Asian actor when you share my video,” he spoke jokingly in his (fake) British accent.
When speaking about why he put on an accent for the press, Khan informed us that he had been in the UK for a few months at the time of that interview. “I was 11 years old when I came to Pakistan. Currently my whole family lives there, I have a home there, and my cousins have a very strong British accent. When you spend so much time around people with thick accents, you sometimes pick it up also subconsciously. I didn’t plan to speak with an accent or make it up right there. It just happened!”
Khan also laughed at how he’s being mocked for calling himself British-Asian instead of Pakistani. “The reporters guided me to use the term British Asian instead of calling myself Pakistani because they felt that it would restrict me or put me in a box, so I just repeated what I said. And technically, I am from there so it’s not incorrect. Mujhe kya pata tha ye sab itna bara mazaaq ban jaye ga (How would I know that this would become such a big joke),” he stated before cracking up again.
Thankfully, Khan is really enjoying this and is happy to see people laughing also. “Things are so chaotic lately, politically and socially, we’ve got something to have fun with so I’m also having a good time. Some of the memes are so funny, honestly we all have such a good sense of humour. Also, blunders happen all the time! That doesn’t mean your craft and reputation gets affected.”
Khan is currently promoting his upcoming film with Neelam Munir, called Chakkar, and is awaiting the release of another film’s teaser. Titled Rehbraa, this film stars Ahsan Khan opposite Ayesha Omar.
