New Delhi: Fawad Khan’s entry into Pakistan Idol as one of the judges has started a generational war between the country’s Millennials and Gen Zs who seem to have forgotten the actor’s music roots. They are asking what the actor doing at the reality show? They are being schooled by older fans.
Pakistan Idol has made a comeback after a decade. Fawad Khan, along with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Zeb Bangash and Bilal Maqsood, will form the judges panel.
The announcement sparked nostalgia among Fawad’s fans who have followed him since his singing days but triggered confusion among some younger fans, particularly on Pakistan Idol’s Instagram page.
While many called it “the return of the golden era”, the younger generation asked: “why is he the judge?”
The comments sparked a swift and passionate backlash from those who grew up in the early 2000s listening to Fawad’s band, Entity Paradigm (EP), one of Pakistan’s pioneering rock acts.
“All the people questioning why Fawad is a judge on Pakistan Idol are uncultured babies who need to stay at home and read up on what Entity Paradigm’s music was in its time,” Pakistani X user Flavored vanilla wrote.
Others joined in. “Gen Z asking why Fawad khan is judging Pakistan Idol is boiling my blood because i grew up listening to him singing bangers like waqt and humesha. Current generation has no sense of culture. We had underground music…Now we hav chichire rappers (sic),” an X user named iWhizkid wrote.
Another simply added: “I can’t deal with Gen Z anymore”.
A star-studded comeback
First aired in December 2013, Pakistan Idol became a national moment that set records. Lahore’s Zamad Baig won the 2014 finale, with over a million votes cast, a record-breaking number. The original jury featured singers Ali Azmat, Bushra Ansari, and Hadiqa Kiani. But it only aired for one season. It stopped due to security issues in the country, specifically the war against the Taliban, which made it difficult to produce the show.
Now, it has been revived after over a decade. UAE-based streaming platform Begin has secured global digital rights, giving it an international release, including in India. One of the show’s ads even parodied Donald Trump and Indian journalist Arnab Goswami.
Amid the debate, across social media, millennials began reposting EP’s classic tracks—Waqt, Hamesha, Kahan Hai Tu—reminding newer audiences that long before Humsafar or The Legend of Maula Jatt, Fawad Khan was a rock frontman.
“He was the judge in Pepsi Battle of the Bands as well magar inko kya pata (but what do they know),” Pakistani Instagram user Talha Farooqui wrote.
The EP legacy
Entity Paradigm (EP), formed in 2000 in Lahore, was co-founded by songwriter-producer Zulfiqar “Xulfi” Jabbar Khan, Fawad Khan, who was the vocalist, and keyboardist Ahmed Ali Butt. The band’s 2003 debut album Irtiqa produced by Xulfi, Fawad, and Mekaal Hasan was Pakistan’s first mainstream concept album and remains a benchmark in local rock history.
After several lineup changes and a brief disbandment in 2007, EP reunited in 2009, with Fawad and Ahmed Ali Butt at the forefront. The group’s fusion of rock, rap, and introspective lyrics defined the early 2000s Pakistani underground scene and influenced a generation of musicians.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)