There is something about Mansha Pasha; when she plays the good guy there is no one better than her and when she is the bad guy, you don’t want to be in her bad books.
However, in Mohabbat Tujhe Alvida, she plays Shafaq who is neither – all she wants is to be happy, even if it means by hook, or by crook. Can’t blame her for that, can we!
Spotlight talks to the star actress on her ongoing drama, her upcoming Eid play, and on entering the new decade with the same old HUM TV where she began her career.
We are loving your character in Mohabbat Tujhe Alvida because it looks different from your past work. Was it a conscious decision to go for a new look or did it just happen?
Yes, it was a conscious effort to go for this character; Shafaq is a glamorous character and I believe that actresses should mix glamorous roles with non-glamorous ones. That’s how I choose my projects as well; if the character isn’t required to look very glamorous, then I don’t make it over glamorous because then your performance, the character, and overall acting are affected. But then, even I want to do something glitzy once in a while, and that’s why I deliberately went for Shafaq in Mohabbat Tujhe Alvida.
This role as well as my upcoming film Kahay DIl Jidhar has me in the glamorous zone, mostly because I had done a lot of non-glamorous roles over the years. Playing a rich girl who comes from abroad, runs her own company … that was a deliberate attempt on my part. It is different from a lot of characters I have played in the past where I couldn’t afford to doll-up and look fancy.
A rich woman who buys another woman’s husband; on paper, it seems like something a villain would do. What made you go for the role – the character, support cast, or both?
I like to go for three-dimensional characters and since Shafaq’s character fulfilled that requirement, I went for it. You can’t play the clichéd weeping girl every day nor can you be the empowered woman, both of which I have played a few times. With this character, I could play an empowered woman who makes mistakes and thus is relatable to the audience. You can be a good person who does stupid things and then learn from them. This is how I see my character in Mohabbat Tujhe Alvida and all the other times I have played the villain.
The key is not to think of yourself as a bad guy because the character thinks that whatever she is doing is the right thing, right till the time she realizes otherwise, that too at the end. For that, creating a backstory is important and like most of the actors I admire, that’s how I prepare myself, by understanding the background of the character, how it developed into what it is right now, and what are her reasons to do things that are wrong.
This is your first project with Zahid Ahmed since Tau Dil Ka Kia Huwa a few years back on HUM TV … but here you are paired opposite each other for the first time. How different is the experience of working with Zahid Ahmed who has achieved a lot since?
Zahid is a great actor and it’s always very nice to work with such actors. Not only does it help in giving the right reaction with him but also the chemistry that would usually take time to develop with someone you haven’t worked with before. I must also add here that he is a very helpful actor as well, he will discuss your character and his character with you, and tell you points as an observer which helps. With him around, it’s a very healthy experience for all as he doesn’t just try to shine himself but also take his co-actors along so that everyone in the scene ends up as the winner!
How do you feel about sharing the screen with the fiery Sonya Hussyn?
Sonya and I have a very interesting dynamic in the serial. It was fun working with her character because our characters are so poles opposite. When we were doing our scenes together, it was different for me to see her ‘play’ that character and I was responding to her just as Shafaq would, not as Mansha playing Shafaq. I think such things happen when two actors do their homework and are very much in the mind of the character they are playing, but are so different in their approach.
You are part of an upcoming Eid play Laadu Ki Lady on HUM TV. Care to spill the beans about it?
Yes, I am part of an Eid play on HUM TV and I am super excited because it is a comedy and I haven’t done comedy in a while. I love to do and watch comedy myself, so I am really looking forward to it.
The character that I am portraying is also fun to play because she is a flirtatious girl, who is frivolous to a certain extent. She isn’t cheap in any way but her cute antics would make the audience laugh; that kind of frivolous. She is very much comfortable in her beauty and charm and plays with that and for those who have found Shafaq different, wait for it. This girl in Laadu Ki Lady is very different to even Shafaq, in many ways.
How many precautions did you take during the shoot?
I did take a certain amount of precautions like wearing a mask and maintaining social distance. In fact, everybody in the team had to wear a mask that was mandatory and followed the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). I tried to use my own makeup items so that there is no chance of infection whereas our director Erum Binte Shahid ensured that when we were eating, we were using paper cups and paper plates.
How do you spend your time in COVID 19?
For everyone, it’s a difficult time as it gets mentally challenging after a while. I am glad that I have my family and that we are all safe and at home. We are all busy in our work but we must take out time to realize that it could be so much worse and that’s the kind of positivity and gratitude that will see us through. So many people have lost their jobs and their source of income and all of us who are better off should be grateful for being happy and healthy.
Social media has emerged as a haven for bullies in Pakistan. How do you deal with trolls while your project is on air?
It is not always easy as people say that since you are in the public eye, you have to bear with it. What they don’t realize is that nobody gives us a handbook to follow when you become popular. There is no training course for actors on how to deal with social media or how to deal with online trolling. This is stuff you learn with time and sometimes you react and sometimes you don’t. Yes, I agree, sometimes you also make mistakes by reacting but then it’s a learning process.
There have been moments when some comments on Social Media have shaken me but then it’s not just me. Every artist has a certain amount of patience and sensitivity level; we have to be sensitive in order to do the job we have to do. At the end of the day, every good comment makes up for at least a few bad ones. I have been lucky in that sense as I have gotten a lot of love also, especially from journalists, colleagues, friends, and fans who send some really really nice things to me. That sort of makes up for some of the negativity that is around.
You started your career with HUM TV in 2012 and with MTA you move into the new decade with them. Tell us about the journey so far?
I didn’t realize that until now (laughs) and that I am entering the new decade with them. It has been such a journey for me personally because I never started off with the lead role. I was not one of those people who immediately got the spotlight. I am tan-skinned, not fair meaning not your quintessential girl in that way because a lot of girls start very young while I started after college. My career graph has been completely different, in no way do I feel that it has taken away from anything. In fact, I believe it has added so much to my journey, to my experience and everything I have done, I have done with a lot of pride.
At this stage, going into the new decade, still loving what I do regardless of all the struggles and to still be able to say that I am proud of myself and my work, I think that’s an achievement that should give a lot of inspiration to a lot of people for whom the journey isn’t as easy as it is for others. Everybody has their own journey and I feel proud of mine and am very thankful to HUM TV for their support. It is run by some very successful women in the industry who are a huge inspiration for a lot of women. I am very grateful to them and to Allah for blessing me, with talent that has helped me become what I am.
from HUM TV – Watch Dramas Online https://ift.tt/39t4sRd
0 comments:
Post a Comment