A Glasgow-based actor named Iman Akhtar has been chosen to play the lead role in ‘Beauty and The Balaah’ – a ‘Beauty and the Beast’ pantomime, spinning the classic with a South Asian twist.
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The UK’s Muslim Panto is back with an exciting announcement and confirmed their next production ‘Beauty and The Balaah’, the South-Asian spin-off to the beloved classic ‘Beauty and The Beast’.
Prominent actor-writer Abdullah Afzal, best known for BBC’s ‘Citizen Khan’, wrote the story, taking up the crucial responsibility to take a timeless Disney story and incorporate it with the rich culture of the Muslim world.
Similar to the original classic, the narrative of ‘Beauty and The Balaah’ follows a ‘young prince who is transformed into a hideous creature by the benevolent Fairy Noor’ after being under the cruel and greedy influence of an evil wizard. In order to ‘break the curse and regain his human form’, Balaah must learn to both give and receive love, and his transformative journey will begin when Belle or Aisha in this case enter his enchanted castle.
Iman Akhtar, 26, who has been chosen as Aisha, expressed her excitement to be representing her region across the United Kingdom.
Speaking about the casting, Iman told a local media outlet, “He [Abdullah Afzal] posted a sneak peek of the first page of the script and I replied to his Instagram story saying how excited I was and that I would love to audition. I totally changed my luck and got to auditions, and got the part.”
“I was really surprised when he gave me Belle,” she added.
“It really is the same role as it would be in any other Beauty and the Beast pantomime but it just has that South Asian/Muslim twist to it,” Akhtar described.
Apart from Akhtar, the panto features a star-studded cast including Sabrina Nabi from Birmingham, Shehzad Ali Hussain from Luton, Noor Waheed (Staffordshire), Usman Farooqi (Manchester) along with comedian Prince Abdi from Brixton.
‘Beauty and The Balaah’ will embark on the scheduled 60-show nationwide tour in early December this year.
Moreover, the panto is not merely for entertainment but is also associated with a charitable initiative to provide winter aid to those in need, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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