British-Pakistani actor and stand-up comedian Abdullah Afzal has written Britain’s first Muslim pantomime. Cinder’aliyah has now toured across five cities in the UK, including London, Manchester and Birmingham.
All the proceeds will go to international humanitarian charity Penny Appeal to aid its winter campaign. Afzal wrote the panto to bring people together in divided times.
The show aims to introduce the South-Asian community to pantomime, while bringing South-Asian culture to the rest of the UK.
Abdullah Afzal: comedy career
Afzal first made a name for himself in short film Raamis whilst completing his studies. He then landed a part in BBC3 series Lunch Monkeys as kung-fu loving joker Asif. Most people know Afzal, however, as Amjad Malik in BBC1’s hit show Citizen Khan. A role he has played since 2012, he now gets called Amjad in his home town of Manchester all the time. “It’s got the point that when I joined a new football club this year, they had Amjad printed at the back of my shirt. I don’t think the boys realize that I am acting in the show,” he says.
Afzal also performs stand-up comedy, presenting the Christmas comedy specials for the BBC Asian network in 2014. He also performed a show at the Eid Special Comedy Night (2015) at the famous Comedy Store in London.
He played his first comedy gig at his local mosque; it didn’t go down too well: “The audience was full of aunty jees. They were yawning, eating samosas, playing with their shalwars, yelling at their kids. I started laughing at my own jokes! That hasn’t put me off though,” he says.
Afzal has played two roles in BBC radio 4’s By a Young Officer: Churchill on the North West Frontier. In 2017, he appeared as Jahid in the romantic comedy film Finding Fatimah. Afzal also showed off his cooking skills in Celebrity Masterchef (2017).
Abdullah Afzal: from imam to comedian
Afzal grew up in Manchester, the baby of a large family: “if I walk around I always see one of my relatives somewhere. I’ve got three brothers and two sisters and they all have about three kids,” he says. However, he wasn’t always destined for comedy. In fact, his parents wanted him to be an imam. After leaving school, he trained for 3 years to be a hafiz.
Afzal discovered acting in college. Only then did he realize that he had a flair for it.
“I’m the kind of guy who wouldn’t do any written work and in the drama practicals I always got full marks, everyone wanted me in the group for confidence,” he recalls. Ever since, he’s been a big dreamer—“Bond, I could see myself as the next Bond,” he says.
Coming in for some criticism after the first series of Citizen Khan didn’t kill his dream. Afzal asserts that “it didn’t really affect me. No matter what you do, you will be criticized. Critics are just there to do a job, it’s their opinion. The fans loved the show.”
Abdullah Afzal: “Cinder’aliyah”
Afzal has always had writing ambitions. These have now been fulfilled with his first show -and Britain’s first Muslim pantomime- Cinder’aliyah. The show takes the stock characters from the original Cinderella, and adapts their names and traditions to South Asian culture. The story follows the trials and tribulations of a young Pakistani girl at the hands of her evil stepmother and stepsisters.
For Hussnain Lahori, who plays the Prince Charming equivalent Prince Javed, Cinder’aliyah represents cultural exchange. “We’re trying to introduce everyone to pantomimes because it’s part of British culture, but we’re also trying to promote British culture through this pantomime to all Asians and non-Asians as well,” he says.
The show has got off to a flying start, with its jokes about South Asian culture getting big laughs from those in the community and outside of it. For Afzal, the show is about “bringing people together instead of segregating them.” With thousands of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities and religions flocking to see it, Afzal has succeeded in his aim.
Check out Cinder’aliyah here and follow Abdullah Afzal on Twitter for all the latest news.
