When A Writer Meets Her Favorite Fictional Character

I'd never thought that I would meet my most favorite fictional character and talk to him in real.
This is the fourth time that I've tried to meet him because last three attempts were futile.
First I went to attend the launch of Silk by Fawad Khan at Mall 1, Lahore back in August 2012 but missed him. When I reached there, I came to know that he had already attended the launch a day before. I would merely count that as a bad luck.

Second, there was this movie premiere for Ali Zafar's Bollywood flick Total Siyaapa in Lahore. Though I had no confirm information that Fawad was going to attend the premiere or not, I still thought of taking a risk.
I would again say that it was really unfortunate of me not to reach the event on time. All of my suspicions turned right; Fawad was there but we missed him. Only if I had gone one or two hours earlier.
Anyhow, now I am coming to the third time when I went to test my luck.
He was attending this Lahore Auto Show back in February 2014. I went there accompanied by my sister, Ayesha and my elder brother. This time, we reached on time but could not get a chance to meet him as he was mobbed by the interviewers and lots of spectators. We tried to follow him till he sat in his car and drove off. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to capture some of his pictures (Not with us, though).
I had surely lost my heart and started to believe that I might never meet him ever.

However, miracles do happen. It happened yesterday.
I was wandering on Twitter when my eyes caught one of the tweets written by most close friend on Twitter, Bisma shouting to me and Ayesha to reach Super Cinema by 8 p.m! Thank you for letting us know Bisma or else we'd never be able to reach on time! When Bisma told us, this is what exactly happened to me; earth lifted off my feet, my heart fluttered at the most highest rate, breathing became uncontrollable and my entire body trembled. Fawad had invited his close friends and relatives to the special screening of his debut Bollywood movie at Super Cinema, Vogue Towers, Lahore.
I discussed the entire plan with my sister on phone that we'd go and try our luck to meet him this time.

Before leaving for the event, Fawad affirmed that he was looking forward to meet us at the event and even thanked us for loving and supporting him throughout his journey as an actor.
I reached home by 6.30 p.m, dressed up in half an hour and drove off to Super Cinema along with my crazy sister and my lovely brother. Thank you Fahad for being extra supportive and accommodating. Love you!
Hence, we reached there by 7.30 p.m . Obviously, we had gone without any passes or invites but we were lucky to get through this process. I won't mention how I got inside but it was hell of a job.
The entire lobby of the cinema was jam packed with celebrities, Fawad's friends and relatives and people from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital.

My eyes quickly scanned the entire lobby but obviously someone had told us Fawad has not reached yet. We wandered and met various people. I met Ahmed Ali Butt. He was extremely kind. We took pictures with him. I saw Fawad's younger sister, Sana who was busy chatting with her friends. She was dressed in a bright pink dress and wore long heels beneath which made her strode a bit uneasy.
I saw Sadaf's younger sister as well who was also babbling with her close buddies. Meanwhile, I met and talked to Bilal Lashari and Vasay Chaudhry.
We ate popcorn and swigged diet cokes, as we waited to catch his glimpse. Hassaan Khalid, Fawad's manager was wandering across the entire lobby. He seemed panicked for some reason. (Probably he was waiting for Fawad.)
Around 8.35 p.m, the prince of Sambhalgarh, Mr. Yuvraaj Singh Rathore a.k.a Fawad Khan at last arrived. Dressed in a dark grey suit, he looked extremely suave and elegant. He was wearing black framed spectacles and his hairdo was mesmerizing.
Hassaan escorted him to the lobby. When he entered, the guards asked the audience to clear off the red carpet and everybody stepped aside, letting Fawad walk toward the stage where media was waiting to capture his pictures.
As he strolled toward the stage, I shouted, "Hey Fawad," and also waved at him. Ayesha was clinging onto me.
He heard my shrieking voice and turned at his left to see us. To our surprise, he gave a wide smile, waved at us and walked ahead. After taking a few steps ahead, he abruptly stopped, turned his head to see us standing behind, recognized both of us, squinted his eyes and then gave out a huge grin with a wave. That was the moment when Ayesha and I realized that Fawad has recognized us. It is our favorite fan moment with him so far. I must mention that he looks more handsome in real life. Much more handsome. (Girls, are you reading?)
When he reached the stage, people obviously had to mob him. We could not get near because audience had scattered all around the host.
He took pictures and (selfies) with the SKMH child patients and walked upstairs toward the cinema hall.
The authorities did not let us enter the cinema as we had no passes or invites.
We saw Ayaan, Fawad's son who is extremely adorable and then my eyes caught Sadaf's glimpse. She was dressed in a dark green silk dress with black jeggings. I loved her heels though. She was standing close to me when I decided to bump into her. I introduced myself to her as a fiction writer and told her that I'd written a book for Fawad. She met me in a very warm way and I must say, she looks much prettier off screen than in the pictures. Whoever says that she's reserve and sarriyal is utterly wrong. She is quite sweet. I pulled Ayaan's cheeks but he did not seem to notice. He was busy talking to his mother and I remember he said to her something like, "No Mama. Yeh Baba nahin hain!" That was super cute! Haha.
Anyhow, I asked if I could take a picture with her but she said "in a bit, please." Of course, I could not take a picture without her consent.
We waited there for almost half an hour when my brother gave up. He said we cannot wait till 11 p.m and that Fawad is not going to meet us. Ayesha and I became a bit traumatized for a moment. Ayesha wrote a text message to him and pleaded to come downstairs once and meet us. But unfortunately, he did not reply and we were left with no excuse to stay back and wait for him to come downstairs.

We came back, strolled around some shops in Vogue towers. I tried to convince my brother to just stay for another hour because we still wanted to take a chance to meet him.
After sheer persuasion, he finally agreed and then again we headed back to the lobby at around 9.15 p.m.
The guard was not letting us in without passes. Somehow, I tried to convince him and he let us in.
The stage was crowded again and I could not fathom the reason behind it. I asked someone what was happening there and to my surprise, he told me that Fawad was there.

I and Ayesha turned on our cameras and ran toward the stage.
Fawad was taking pictures with random people. I was pushing through the swarm of people, trying to get a glimpse of him. A kind guy helped me out to reach to Fawad. When he saw us in the crowd, he instantly recognized me. I held out my trembling hand to shook hands with him and said, "Hi Fawad."
"Hi Sara," Fawad said.
"Hi and this is Ayesha," I said. Fawad shook hands with Ayesha.
"Thank you so much for being here guys." He put his hand across his chest and thanked us, our most favorite gesture of his! He was so happy to see us. Happiness gleamed in his eyes!
He brought us in and we stood across his side. Ayesha was on his right side and me on the left.
I stumbled onto him when he asked me to stand next to him.
"I'm sorry...I'm just so overwhelmed at the moment." I stammered. My entire body trembled.
"No problem," he chuckled.
So we stood there for a while and let the press take our pictures. (Damn, I need those pictures with him.)
"Finally. Dream come true moment!" Ayesha said to him. Fawad kept smiling. 
I could not help but started a quick conversation with him while the press was busy taking our pictures.
"Fawad. I want to invite you for my book launch and you have to come," I said while looking right into his eyes. His eyes are light brown and covered with wrinkles. Love them!
"You will!" Ayesha said.
"Sure. Why not! I'd love to." he exclaimed. He said this while looking into my eyes. He was grinning all the while. We were standing too close to him. He is so humble and down to earth. I can't explain how much protocol he'd given us last night. Pheww!
"Hey, can I hold you?" I asked him.
"Yeah! Sure," he said with a huge grin.
I did not really hold him, but just touched some part of his grey coat. 
He held Ayesha from the back. Lol. 
Right then, Ayesha reminded me to capture a selfie with him.
"Sara...Selfie!" Ayesha said.
"Oh yeah!" Fawad said.
I managed to turn on the camera of my lame phone and then clicked a selfie. He looked breathtaking as usual.
Now, it was the time to depart.
"Thank you Fawad," I and Ayesha said.
"Thank you so much for loving and supporting me throughout. I love you guys!" he said.
"You were awesome in Khoobsurat and we loved it. Good luck," I said while departing.
He thanked us again and then I and Ayesha left with a flying kiss to him. He gave us back! :)
Ayesha waved Bye at him again and he responded her positively.
Then, I talked to Hassaan and then he promised he'd reply me back. 

It was truly a dream come true moment. A perfect fan moment. A Khoobsurat moment.
I loved the way he recognized us and gave us so much of his time. I loved getting the protocol, attention and everything else from his side. He is not only a brilliant actor but a beautiful person inside out. Fawad Khan is humble, down to earth and so comfortable to talk with. That's what distinguishes him from the rest of the celebrities. :)