Mohammad Iqbal Khan born 10 February 1980, Kashmir, India), more commonly known
as Iqbal Khan and King Khan of Indian Television Industry is an Indian television
actor.Due to the unrest in Kashmir, his devoted parents, made the decision to send
him to boarding school, The Pinegrove School, Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh and to
the acclaimed Lawrence school Sanawar. In his early interviews he has mentioned
that one of the things that really make him smile is the memory of his school days.
Ekta Kapoor in an interview
to Karan Johar who is her friend on his show Koffee With Karan said that Iqbal Khan
is the Shahrukh Khan of the Indian Television Industry.
Iqbal fans call him as Salman
Khan of the Television Industry because he has a huge fan following all around the
world.
Iqbal Khan dropped out of
the Delhi College of Arts and Commerce in Chanakyapuri in order to pursue his career
in the film industry.Like many models such as John Abraham, Iqbal Khan decided to
go into the film industry after modeling. Unlike Abraham, Iqbal Khan did not do
so well. His early movies Fun2shh and Bullet: Ek Dhamaka were flops, despite the
presence of famous comedy actor Paresh Rawal in Fun2shh.
After a while of hardship, he tried out for the role of "Angad Khanna" for the Balaji
serial Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai. The series attracted many fans, and Iqbal Khan gained
a great deal of recognition through this production. His co-star Neha Bamb (who
played Kripa Sharma/Khanna) and he were alleged to have bad relations. Neha, however
denies it, but sources say Iqbal agrees that him and Neha are not quite the best
of friends. Nonetheless, many agreed that their chemistry on screen was very good,
hence they won the best couple award for a Sony TV Telly Awards.
Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai went off
air October 5, 2006, allegedly due to either bad relations between the producer
and the creative head, or the drop in rankings after a period of extreme popularity;
Iqbal did not agree with Ekta Kapoor's practise of continuing to stretch out the
length of the show.
Later roles Iqbal Khan went
on to play the character of "Shaurya" in Kavyanjali and "Raghu" for Kahiin To Hoga,
both serials produced by STAR Plus. After the ending of Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai, which
was not only his debut serial but as he quoted, what made him a "household name",
he went on to do another Ekta Kapoor serial: Karam Apnaa Apnaa, also on STAR Plus.
He plays the role of Shiv
opposite Pallavi Subhash, who had a 30 second role in Tumhari Disha, a serial on
Zee TV.He exited Karam Apnaa Apnaa at the end of 2006, much to his audience's disappointment.
He stated that this was not due to any personality conflict between him and other
actors or directors, but merely due to his desire to develop his career and spend
more time with his fiancée.
However, now he back television
with Choona Hai Aasmaan as an airforce officer by the name of "Abhimanyu Adhikari"
in a serial produced by Miditech, the same company which produced Indian Idol 3
and Saara Akaash.
Personal life
Iqbal Khan often in interviews
expresses his religious beliefs. He fasts every day in Ramazan despite his overwhelming
schedule. Being a "workaholic", Khan had been admitted to the hospital a couple
of times due to stress and overloading work. Iqbal is married to Sneha Chabbra who
works part time at a Call Centre. They had previously worked together in "Teri Prem
ki Diwani". The two were married in January 2007, and went to Maldives for their
honeymoon. Despite the stardom, he is very nice and humble person at heart and meets
his fans warmly.
