Daily Times

Omair Rana is someone who does not make recurrent appearances on the television screen, but when he does, he makes them unforgettable by playing his role earnestly and in an influential manner, with a look every time changed so that the appearance may synchronise with the character, rendering it natural.

Omair Rana becomes all the more dear to us when we recall the popular sitcom of Pakistan, ‘Teen Bata Teen’ and catch him performing in it.

Yes, ‘Teen Bata Teen’ is from where Rana started his acting career on television. In those days, he was doing commercial theatre, and during one of the performances directed by Salman Shahid, Adeel Hashmi happened to be sitting in the audience, who came across Naveed Riaz and asked him regarding Rana. On a green signal from the former, Rana was given the role previously played by Ali Tahir. It was a revival of ‘Teen Bata Teen’ and Ali Tahir’s role was replaced by Rana.

“Since it was my first project, I do not feel as if I gave my best to ‘Teen Bata Teen’ in terms of acting. I wish I could redo it. But foundations matter for me a lot and that is what makes it a respectable project for me. Secondly, working with people like Adeel Hashmi, Mehreen Raheel and Faisal Qureshi was a wonderful experience,” he says.

Since Rana has not only been acting on television and in theatre but has also remained a teacher of drama, I was inclined to question him regarding the special place this genre of literature holds in his heart. To this, he replied that drama where comes to him naturally, it is considered preferable by him because drama is logical and realistic. Moreover, it helps people find out their strengths and weaknesses. Besides giving people a good channel and a good voice, Drama helps the introverts to wear masks and hide themselves.

“I did love poetry at school and would attempt questions related to it in my exams. I even tried my hands at composing a poem or two. However, there are certain poems, which I cannot digest, for I believe that they should be simple but effective nonetheless. Whereas the genre of novel is considered, reading had always been a tedious task for me, specially when it came to writing book reports in student life,” he says.

The genre of drama, for Rana, is easier to digest. “It’s format helps you visualise things easily,” he says.

Rana was found clean-shaven with black hair in his film ‘Chambeli’. In ‘Piya Bedardi’, he had adopted the latest hairstyle, slightly dyed grey, and in ‘O Rangreza’, he has often been caught wearing a hat. In every drama serial of his, Rana comes up with an altogether different appearance. While accepting that it is the result of doing a lot of theatre, Rana holds the opinion that in order to become someone, one must explore all the available avenues. This results in the character being more effective and natural. Having a liking for change, he considers himself lucky that he usually gets one project at a time and he avails the opportunity to go into the depth of that one character. “Secondly, when there is variety in characterisation, a drama procures a good look,” he adds.

However, there is another interesting cause hidden behind these changing looks, and that is Rana’s desire to live the life of an ordinary human being and travel comfortably in cabs or rickshaws. It is not that he does not warmly welcome people who recognise him and come to praise him for his work. “But at times, one wishes to live an ordinary life. We all are ordinary human beings by the end of the day. And that is where disguises come in handy,” he says.

Being closely associated with theatre, Rana expresses sadness at the fact that instead of progressing, theatre in Pakistan is facing a downfall, specifically in Lahore. According to him, government plays no role in promoting the culture, although culture for Rana holds a more important position than language and education, which he believes are the subsets of culture. He says that theatre cannot grow without the help and support of the government. A responsibility has to be shown towards art. The last time, artists were given pensions were in Bhutto’s era. In order to make it grow, it has to be made commercially viable. It is not that people are always to be presented with artistic stuff not easily comprehensible, but a variety must be there. Commercial aspects are to be brought under consideration and gradually; people are to be trained intellectually. Rana highlights a very important and bitter fact of our society that literature and arts have been confined to the elite class only. Even if artists are called to exhibit their talent, it is usually in affluent gatherings.

“Cultural activities relax people and it is culture that determines who we are. Not supporting theatre is like not promoting culture,” he says.

Published in Daily Times, December 3^rd 2017.