Iqbal Khan returns to Instagram after 3.5 years: I still don’t know what to do here FilmyMeet

After a hiatus of over three-and-a-half years, actor Iqbal Khan made his return to Instagram last week, and it’s all because of his family. He shares, “My family was pretty after my life that I should be on social media. But honestly, I still don’t know what to do here. I don’t want to get into the algorithms and all, I am just going to post whatever I want and whenever I want. I just want it to be chill and not worry about increasing my followers and keeping up with the algo. I don’t have the bandwidth to handle all that.”

In today’s time, the number of Instagram followers seems to have become a big factor in actors getting jobs, with many artistes having voiced how influencers are taking over acting jobs. But Iqbal has a different take: “I worked a lot in these last three-and-a-half years. I explored all the mediums—TV, films and OTT, and this was without being on Instagram. So, Instagram is not getting me work. It can be a tool but not the sole reason for getting work.”

Ask the 43-year-old about the reason behind leaving Instagram in the first place and he says, “I didn’t go away from Instagram because it was disturbing my mental peace. I just thought maybe I wasn’t meant for it, and I didn’t have a lot to share. Kuch hona bhi chahiye daalne ke liye. If you are going to the same set daily, you can’t create something new every day. At least I can’t.”

Actor Arshad Warsi had recently opened up about feeling scared of social media negatively influencing his kids. Being a father of two, does Iqbal have the same fear too? “My younger kid is two-and-a-half years old, so what would she do with social media anyway. But even my 13-year-old son is also not on social media. When it comes to technology, I am a little strict with them. We, as parents, make sure our kids don’t spend a lot of time on phones. At least mere saamne to aisa hi hai, par mere peeche kya hota hai pata nahi,” he quips, adding, “You cannot be with your kids always, you can just be there for them and do your best. And kids learn from actions and not just words.”

In his recent reel, the actor changed his salt-and-pepper look to black hair. Is it because of ageism in the industry and he says, “I have got more and interesting work with my gray hair. So, I have not been in that situation. Also, the scenario has changed a lot, especially due to OTT, as you have stories today for a 60-year-old person or for a 50-year-old and so on. You couldn’t make a film like Jalsa or The Buckingham Murders 10 years ago, but today you can.”