Seems like Bollywood stars have a thing for our handsome Pakistani exports: Fawad Khan might have been dubbed a Lahori kebab but it turns out that Imran Abbas has his fair share of fans too!

Veteran director Muzaffar Ali believes that when it comes to good looks, no one can beat Imran Abbas in India or Pakistan.

"There's no boy as good-looking as him in India or Pakistan,” the actor said in an interview with Mumbai Mirror.

The cult classic Umrao Jaan director didn't stop there, and backed up his choice for bringing Imran on board for Jaanisaar— a film he is directing after a three-decade-hiatus. Pointing to India's Zindagi TV channel he said that he believed in unity between both nations:

"Today, every home is tuned into Zindagi which airs Pakistani serials. I'm a philosopher and my mission is to promote oneness of the human race, the brotherhood of man. These man-made boundaries don't bother me."

Talking about Jaanisar, he said the film, which is set in 1877, is about a young anglicised Indian man who wants to get back to his roots.

Sharing his future plans, Ali said that he aims to make a film about his late father Syed Sajid Hussain Ali, the Raja of Kothwara: "He fought the first elections in 1937 as an independent candidate against the Muslim League and won. His principles were humanism and secularism. He was vehemently opposed to the formation of Pakistan. The film will be set in the '30s and filmed in Lucknow, as well as Scotland and Ireland where he lived too."

He also said that he has abandoned the idea of making his film Zooni, based on Habba Khatoon, the queen poetess of Kashmir because of the insurgency: "I shoot a film organically. I fall in love with the place and it becomes a part of my life. No one knew I was shooting Jaanisaar. I can't do that in Kashmir. Today, it pains me to go there. It a troubled zone now for films like Mission: Kashmir and Haider but not for a mystical journey like Zooni," he lamented.

The trailer for Jaanisaar releases on July 7th.