The shining personality has been radiant on screen since ages. Occasionally, he shows his unparalleled skills behind the scenes sitting on the chair of 'director' too! Today, he chats with The Daily Observer and shares some insight on the life and career of an actor.
What are you currently busy with?
I am currently busy with productions for Eid, not to mention the on-going serials.
What do you prefer more now - acting or directing?
I direct occasionally. On the other hand, I do acting regularly. When I can make some time to direct, I do. I have directed some dramas and telefilms for special occasions as well such as Halloween, Valentine's Day etc. I have done those works because those were a little off-track, a little different than our traditional productions. For instance, we never had any production based on Halloween before. The one I directed is the first one. So, I found these interesting. Thus, I went for it.
How did the transition from acting to directing happen?
The first directional work of mine was a long time ago. Around 1995, my first directed work aired on TV. Before that, I used to act in a regular basis. Among our generation, I was the first actor to start directing. However, I am not a regular. I do it occasionally. As I am still acting, I don't get much time to direct often. So, you cannot say that a transition took place. It is just something I do some time out of passion. When I find a good script and have some time in hand, I direct. Nonetheless, I do plan to continue it.
You've portrayed various roles. How does a single artist adapt so many different characters onto himself?
An actor needs preparation for adapting any role. There is a methodical procedure for it. Through that methodical procedure, an actor prepares himself to portray a certain role. You learn this procedure from institutions. In our time, we didn't have that kind of institutes. However, whatever we learned, we learned it from acting in theatre. We prepared ourselves by doing theatre works. We learned the procedure of building up a character from there. There are certain rules, regulations, techniques etc. You need to learn those and practice them.
Moreover, only by everyday practice, you can make your character portrayal or acting skill finest or perfect. You will find the opportunity to do that in theatres only, if you do theatre regularly. On the other hand, the young people of today's age who are coming to work in the industry, they are doing it based on their personal practice, talent and by doing more and more productions, getting better and better.
Then, when the audience remembers a character from a production, only then the actor is remembered making his place among the hearts of the viewers. This is what is to be followed. I, myself, go through this procedure.
Is it better to keep a personal touch to the various kinds of roles an actor plays?
An actor is successful only when he/she makes the audience believe that he/she is that character. If I portray a role of a farmer while not being able to abandon my personality, the character won't be realistic or believable to the audience. So, it is the actor's responsibility to present the character he/she is playing only according to how that particular character is. Thus, an actor has to renounce his own personality. That is how method acting works.
On the other hand, there is another category of acting which is abstract acting. For that, this is not mandatory. However, in that case, the audience may feel a kind of pressure to understand or believe.
After portraying so many different characters on screen, do they become a part of you in real life too?
Well, relish of some of the characters remains for some time. The words, thoughts, personality of those characters remain for some time. Among the various characters we play the one which are our favorites become favorites in this way. When you love a character so much, you portray that character with total honesty and when the audience accepts that character as well, then that character leaves a touch in you, a resonance. Nevertheless, there is a difference in personal life and acting life. So, sometimes the traits of certain characters I played do come up, sometimes they don't. Sometimes new inputs are made into the personality as well. Be that as it may, characters you play do leave an impact one way or another.
Are you satisfied with you long successful career? Or is there any wish left to fulfill?
I have a philosophy. The way a person sees his life or wants to see his life that is how he arranges it. All the events that take place in his life are his own making. In view of those, he takes his life further ahead. So, whatever happens, I try to take it normally. You consider that and move on. You need to find out your wrongs, right them and move ahead. This is the ideology I follow. Therefore, I never let any thought of dissatisfaction go to my head.
There might be times when you won't be able to meet your expectation for some reason. So what you do is find out why it didn't turn out the way you expected and rectify it for future purposes. I never let myself get stuck or depressed due to imperfection or incompleteness. To sum up, I am not a frustrated man. I am very optimistic, no matter the situation is.
What trait of yours helped you in this long successful career?
Optimism and patience! People should work with great optimism, patience and tolerance. You need to be hopeful about things. Lastly, there should always be a target, a goal.
