MUMBAI: With Ali Zafar’s concert cancelled in Pune and the escalated tension between India and Pakistan, a question mark hovers over the future of Ali’s assignments in Mumbai.

While no one in the Mumbai film industry is willing to speak on record on their plans regarding Ali Zafar’s future projects, one learns from a reliable source that the singer-actor would not be coming to India for the release of Zafar’s next film ‘Chashme Buddoor’.

Says a source close to the project, “It’s really sad. But the cancellation of Zafar’s concert in Pune at the last minute signifies the end of that period when artistes from across the border could come and work comfortably in Bollywood. Now we’d have to re-think the whole strategy. As far as Ali’s presence in ‘Chashme Buddoor’ is concerned, he is one of  three heroes of the film along with Siddharth and Divyendu Sharma. In fact Ali Zafar plays the main romantic lead in ‘Chashme Buddoor’ and it would look very odd in the promotional events to not have the main lead.”

At the same time sources close to ‘Chashme Buddoor’ feel it would be impossible to get Ali Zafar to promote the film in the given atmosphere of escalated tension between the two countries.

“He’s bound to be asked awkward questions which he is neither qualified not entitled to and answer. And suppose they boo him out of the events and out of the country? It’s volatile situation,” says the source.
However the release of ‘Chashme Buddoor’ in April is some time away. The team behind the project is hopeful that the tension between the two countries would be diffused in a while.

“We have our fingers crossed. Anything can happen,” says the anxious ‘Chashme Buddoor’ team member.