Actor and director Iqbal Hussain has revealed that his wife, veteran actress Bushra Ansari, originally tried to arrange a marriage for him with someone else.
The couple appeared on ARY Digital’s Shan-e-Suhoor program, where they shared insights into their personal lives and careers.
Iqbal explained that when they first met, he was preparing to leave Pakistan for Europe after being accepted into a film school. At the time, Bushra was starring in a play he was directing. “I was planning to finish the project and depart,” he recalled.
According to Iqbal, Bushra was actively trying to find him a spouse at the time. He recounted an incident while sitting in the back of a car:
Bushra said to me, “Look, these women wearing hijabs are acquaintances of mine who live in America; they are coming to see you. You should marry one of them.'”
Iqbal told her that he was content living alone and didn’t feel the need to marry. He recalled her humorous response: “Then stay alone, but get married!”
The director, 57, eventually turned the proposal back on her. “I told her, ‘You are also single; why don’t you marry me?’ ” A few days later, Bushra’s sister, Asma Abbas, called to ask if he was serious or just joking with her elder sister. “I told her I was serious,” Iqbal said. “After that, we got married.”