Internet Says Emmad Irfani Is the Perfect Choice for Imran Khan Biopic
By Sayed Abdullah | June 19, 2026
The photographs were meant to be nothing more than holiday snapshots. Emmad Irfani, the actor who has built a quiet but steady career across Pakistani television dramas, posted a series of pictures from a trip to London — the kind of casual, well-lit images that celebrities share with their followers without much thought. But the internet saw something else. The angle of his jaw, the sweep of his hair, the way he looked into the camera — it was, to thousands of people scrolling through Instagram on a weekday, unmistakably Imran Khan. Not the politician. Not the prisoner. The young Imran Khan, the World Cup-winning captain, the face that once launched a thousand newspaper clippings and now, apparently, a thousand casting calls. The comments flooded in. "Khan Sahib!" one fan wrote. "He will do justice to the biopic," said another. A third kept it simpler: "Same to same."
Someone, somewhere, is already writing a script. The public has made its choice.
The Full Story
Emmad Irfani has been a familiar face in Pakistani entertainment for over two decades, but not always in the way he is now. He began his career as a fashion model in 2000, walking ramps for designers like HSY, Khaadi, and Nomi Ansari. The transition to acting came in 2013, with a supporting role in Geo TV's "Aasmanon Pay Likha," but it was his first lead role, as Malik Mansoor in "Saya-e-Dewar Bhi Nahi" a year later, that earned him critical recognition. Since then, he has appeared in dramas that became household names: "Mah-e-Tamaam," "Cheekh," "Jalan," "Titli." His most recent standout role, in the 2024 hit "Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum" alongside Fahad Mustafa and Hania Aamir, was one he has described as the best experience of his career. This is an actor who has paid his dues in an industry that does not always reward patience. And now, because of a few photographs taken on a London street, he is being talked about in a way that no drama role has ever achieved.
The resemblance to Imran Khan, particularly the iconic 1990s look that is burned into the memory of every Pakistani who watched the World Cup final, is what set the internet alight. One user admitted, "I thought he is… IK." Another was more direct: "Perfect for IK biopic." The comments did not feel like the usual social media noise. There was a sincerity to them, a sense that the public had found something they had been looking for without knowing it. Imran Khan's life — cricketer, philanthropist, politician, prisoner — is a screenplay waiting to happen. But casting it has always been the challenge. Who could possibly play a man whose face is as familiar as the national flag? The answer, according to a very vocal segment of Instagram, was posting holiday pictures from London.
Emmad Irfani himself has not commented on the biopic calls. His Instagram post was not a campaign. It was a vacation. But the internet does not wait for permission. The idea is out there now, and it will be difficult to put back. A biopic of Imran Khan would be one of the most scrutinised casting decisions in Pakistani film history. The actor chosen would have to carry not just a physical resemblance, but the weight of a life that has been public, contested, and deeply polarising. That is not a role anyone steps into lightly. Irfani's quiet, measured public persona might actually be an advantage. He does not court controversy. He does not dominate headlines. He works, he delivers, and he moves on. That kind of steadiness is exactly what a project this sensitive would need.
Why This Moment Matters
Imran Khan's life story is unique in Pakistan's modern history. He played international cricket from 1971 to 1992, captaining the side from 1982 and leading Pakistan to its only World Cup triumph in Melbourne. His Test career produced over 3,800 runs and more than 360 wickets — numbers that place him among the greatest all-rounders the game has seen. After retiring, he built the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in Lahore, an institution that treats thousands of patients regardless of their ability to pay. In 1996, he founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and after nearly two decades in opposition, became Prime Minister in August 2018. He was removed through a no-confidence vote in April 2022, and has been imprisoned at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since August 5, 2023. That arc — from cricket field to cancer ward to Prime Minister's House to prison cell — is cinematic in its sweep. It is also deeply contested. A biopic would not just be a film. It would be a political event.
That is why the casting conversation matters. The actor who plays Imran Khan will be making a statement, whether he intends to or not. He will be associated with a particular version of Imran's story — the hero, the victim, the flawed leader, or all three. The public's instinct to choose Emmad Irfani is partly about the physical resemblance. But it is also about something else: Irfani has never been a polarising figure. He is liked without being worshipped. He is respected without being feared. That neutrality, in a country where Imran Khan's name splits families and ends friendships, might be the only way to tell his story without the film becoming a weapon. The audience would walk into the cinema looking for Imran, and they would see an actor, not an activist. That is a rare and valuable quality. It is why the London photographs, however accidental, have struck a nerve that a formal casting announcement might not have reached.
The Pakistani Connection
I watched the photographs circulate on a quiet evening in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, yaar, while sitting at a chai dhaba with a friend who follows celebrity news more closely than he follows current affairs. He showed me the post, and within seconds, the comments were being read aloud to the table. The reaction was instant, instinctive, and almost unanimous. Everyone saw Imran. The conversation turned, as it always does in Karachi, to films and politics and the impossibility of separating them. A biopic of Imran Khan, someone said, would break the box office no matter who starred in it. But if the casting was right — if the actor could make you forget, for two hours, that you were watching a performance — the film could become something more than a hit. It could become part of the national conversation in a way that few Pakistani films have managed. That is a heavy burden. Emmad Irfani did not ask for it. But sometimes, the public decides for you. And right now, the public has decided that he looks the part. The rest — the script, the director, the politics — will have to catch up.
For now, the photographs are just photographs. A vacation. A few images shared with followers. But the internet has a long memory, and casting directors have a habit of noticing when the audience has made its preference known. Whether a biopic ever materialises — and whether Irfani would accept the role if offered — is anyone's guess. But the idea has been planted. And in a country where Imran Khan's image is everywhere, from posters on rickshaws to murals on university walls, finding the face to match it is no small thing. The internet, for once, seems to have done the casting director's job for them. Whether the rest of the industry agrees is another matter entirely.
Do you think Emmad Irfani is the right choice to play Imran Khan, or should the role go to someone else? Share your casting call in the comments.
Sayed Abdullah is the founder and editor of Prime Pakistan. Based in Karachi, he writes about culture, entertainment, and the stories that connect Pakistanis. Read more.
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Sources
- Emmad Irfani's Instagram — London photographs and fan reactions.
- Imran Khan's career records — ESPNcricinfo, public archives.
- PTI history — Publicly available political timeline.
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