Heads of state discuss him post Zimbabwe’s T20 World Cup, Mr Bean from Karachi says ‘my motive of making world laugh fulfilled’

Hours after Pakan’s defeat to Zimbabwe in Perth on Thursday evening, Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa would tweet his congratulations to his team but end it with a message to Pakan: “Next time, send the real Mr Bean.”
Within a couple of hours, just past midnight, Pakan Prime Miner Shebaz Sharif replied: “We may not have the real Mr Bean, but we have real cricketing spirit …”

We may not have the real Mr Bean, but we have real cricketing spirit .. and we Pakanis have a funny habit of bouncing back 🙂
Mr President: Congratulations. Your team played really well today. ?? https://t.co/oKhzEvU972
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 27, 2022
His brief was to attract crowds and his trip is still remembered, as the viral tweets show.
Mr Bean, AKA Asif Muhammad in this case, is a comic doppelganger of Rowan Atkinson. He was watching the entire social media spectacle unfold from his home in Karachi.
“I am a duplicate but if the Zimbabwe President and Pakan PM can talk about me wishing each other after Zimbabwe’s win, my motive of making the world laugh is fulfilled. There was some light-hearted banter after Pakan’s loss because of me. What more can I ask for?” Muhammad told The Indian Express.

He got dragged into the match between Pakan and Zimbabwe when on the match eve, a Zimbabwe fan Ngugi Chasura tweeted: “As Zimbabweans, we won’t forgive you. You once gave us that Fraud Pak Bean instead of Mr Bean Rowan. We will settle the matter tomorrow. Just pray that rain doesn’t save you.”

This Twitter user was referring to a previous visit Muhammad to Zimbabwe.
When he had made a name for himself as Mr Bean’s doppelganger, Muhammad was invited to an agricultural exhibition in Zimbabwe two Indian businessmen in 2016.
His brief was to attract crowds and his trip is still remembered, as the viral tweets show.

A fake Mr Bean was once paid to come and perform in Zimbabwe in 2016. pic.twitter.com/IrM5pfqcoH
— ApexNewsZim (@ApexNewsZim) February 3, 2021
“When the businessmen Muhammad Arif and Muhammad Anees discussed the idea of having me as the brand ambassador in the exhibition in Harare, I was delighted. To meet kids in markets and streets in Harare and seeing them believe I was the real Mr Bean was my biggest earning from that trip. A lot of Indians would also come to meet me at the residence of Anees and would ask me for autographs and selfies. Pakan se duss guna zyada hospitality hui thi (The hospitality was ten times more than I get in Pakan),” said the Karachi resident. He was given security the city council, he said.
A textile businessman turned property dealer, Muhammad grew up watching Pakani comedy dramas and films of Indian comics Johnny Walker and Kadar Khan on video cassettes.

In 2010, Muhammad’s second life as a comic began when he was approached a Pakani television channel for a show on doppelgangers of actors. Muhammad would play the character of Mr Bean for the first time on television.
“My wife Nazia and friends would tell me that I resemble Mr Bean. I would watch the TV show between my work and it was only in 2010 that I prepared for the role while making clips to send to the TV channel. I would watch the episodes at night and ordered a teddy bear from China, a stuffed-toy associated with the character, and got my blazer imported from England. Since the character Mr Bean does not speak, I improvised a little with some English dialogues for the audience. As people liked it, it became my style,” said Muhammad, who is in his 40s.
He said his children, daughters Mahin and Annabia and son Ahmed Raza, would burst into laughter when he first started imitating Mr Bean.
“Whenever I visit schools in Pakan, a lot of kids feel happy that they have met the real Mr Bean. Some laugh and some even cry and want to touch the teddy bear,” said Muhammad, who recently uploaded a YouTube video of him meeting kindergarten children at Karachi’s Menon School.
A Javed Miandad and Shahid Afridi fan, Muhammad also likes to watch Virat Kohli bat. He said he almost came to India, too.

“Pakani comic arts like Shakeel Siddiqui and Rauf Lala worked in Indian TV shows and told us about the love they got in India. I once had talks with the organisers of the Kapil Sharma show and also for a movie with Rajpal Yadav. But the situation between India and Pakan worsened. I wish to perform for an Indian audience in India, and students in Indian schools one day.”
One day, he wishes to meet the real Mr Bean, who has also portrayed Atkinson’s character in an advertisement with cricketer Shahid Afridi.
“The HBL advertisement was done after seeking permission from Rowen Atkinson. Later they told me that Atkinson was happy seeing me enacting his role. That was the biggest compliment for me,” Muhammad said. “One day, when Pakan play England in a World Cup final, I would like to watch it at the venue with the Real Mr Bean!”