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Pakistani actor Momal Sheikh, who made her acting debut with Sonam Kapoor’s 2016 film Happy Bhag Jayegi, has likened her family’s influence in Pakistani showbiz to Bollywood’s renowned Kapoor family. During a recent interview on After Hours with Ushna Shah, Momal highlighted how multiple members of her family have found fame and success, just like the Kapoors, cementing their place in the industry. Also read: Pakistani actor Javed Sheikh wanted just ₹1 for Om Shanti Om role
‘We are the Sheikh family of Lollywood’
When Ushna said ‘you are the closest we have to the Kapoors’, Momal said while explaining her family tree, “Yes, I suppose, if you include Behroze and Saleem uncles’ families, we are the Kapoors of Pakistan… We are the Sheikhs and Behroze uncle is Sabzwari. He is my phuppa (uncle) as he is married to Safeena phuppo (aunt), who is the sister of my father. Salim chacha (uncle) and baba (my father) are brothers of course and like Kapoors, we are the Sheikh family of Lollywood.”
‘Baba does not make any phone calls for me’
Momal also added that her father and brother ‘do not behave like the Kapoors’ though and there was no nepotism as they do not make any calls for her to get work. She added that she is not that strict about being self-made but her father insisted she find work on her own.
Momal said, “Baba does not make any phone calls for me. The point is that Kapoors bolte hain na ‘Kapoors hai hum’, ‘nepo-nepo’, toh hume koi phone call karke kaam nahi milta hai, like literally (The Kapoors keep saying ‘We are the Kapoors’, but here that does not work). I would use it (her family name) but it does not work. I did (nag her father) but unka ek tareeka hai, aur Shahzad ka bhi ek tareeka hai, par mera ye tareeka nahi hai, mujhe samajh nahi aata aur mujhe milta bhi nahi hai (My father and brother have their own way and I don’t really get it and I get no work because of them).”
More about Momal
Momal Sheikh is the daughter of veteran Pakistani actor Javed Sheikh, who is known for working in Bollywood films such as Om Shanti Om, My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, and Namastey London, among others, and Zinat Mangi.
Momal is sister of popular Paksiani TV actor Shahzad Sheikh; she is also the niece of veteran Pakistani actors Behroze Sabzwari and Saleem Sheikh. Moreover, Pakistani actor and model Shehroz Sabzwari is her cousin. Momal is married to businessman Nader Nawaz – they have a son, and also a daughter, who was born in 2020.
More about the Kapoor family
The Kapoors are the most famous family in Hindi cinema, with five generations of directors, theatre artists and film actors. They span almost eighty years of Indian filmmaking, from the 1920s to the present. They are also related to other prominent film families.
Surinder Kapoor, Bollywood producer and father of actors Anil, Boney, and Sanjay Kapoor, was Prithviraj Kapoor’s cousin. Kareena Kapoor’s marriage to Saif Ali Khan has linked the Kapoors to the Pataudis, and Shweta Bachchan’s mother-in-law was Raj Kapoor’s daughter, the late Ritu Nanda. Ranbir Kapoor with actor-wife Alia Bhatt, as well as Neetu Kapoor are some of the other members of the famous Bollywood family.
