Daily Times

People are attracted to show business variously by fame, fortune and glamour. What drew you to the world of show business?

It’s my love for the performing and visual arts. I have had a life-long affair with the arts. They are the best way to express one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions, and they add colour, meaning and passion to life. I always wanted to have a career in the arts. As a child, I used to draw. I remember putting together several small comic books. Each had elaborate stories and hand-drawn images. I used to love to tell stories. My interest in telling stories grew with age and I became actively involved in theatre in my teens. As a teenager, I also developed an interest in music and learnt how to play a number of music instruments. I started a band. Fortunately, our singles did well on the charts and I got the encouragement and motivation I needed. I started writing, composing and performing my own songs, subsequently. Acting was the next stop on my journey in show business. I seized the opportunity to act as soon as it came along. Coming back to the question, it was not fame, fortune and glamour that drew me to show business; rather, it was my love and fondness of the arts. Of course, fame, fortune and glamour is great, as well.

Did you ever publish the comic books you made as a child?

No, unfortunately, I did not. I need to look for them and get them published. It is one of the many items of my list of things to do.

You started your professional career as an investment banker and then made a move to show business. How is the world of finance different from show business?

I have a double major in Finance and Economics and worked as an investment banker in New York, for a few years. I found success in the field but not the internal satisfaction that I believed show business would afford me. There was always the nagging desire to move to show business. The world of finance is very competitive and aggressive. It gives one little, if any, opportunity to think, feel and be creative. Show business, on the other hand, is all about art, expression and imagination. I feel at home in show business. I am a reluctant member of the world of finance.

Your entry in the world of show business seems to have been half-hearted. You live mostly in New York and come to Karachi only when you have an acting assignment. Is there a plan to move permanently to Pakistan?

Yes, there is. I will have fully moved to Pakistan by January 31, 2018. It is naïve to expect that one can be a successful actor and musician in Pakistan while living in the United States.

New York and Karachi are both very special cities. Where do you have more fun?

New York and Karachi are both great cities, a lot of fun in their own individual ways. New York has great diversity – in people, food, art, clothing and culture– and allows one to have a veritable global experience without ever having to leave Manhattan. It also has electrifying energy. Karachi is diverse, as well, but everyone who lives in Karachi is a Karachi-ite more than anyone else. One loses his original identity when moving to the city. I believe that Karachi has its own unique culture that every resident adopts. It also has a warmth that New York does not have. Karachi gives me a sense of belonging and identity. I love living in Karachi.

How did you get your first break in show business?

As a musician, my first solo single, that was launched several years ago, gave me the break. It made me known in the right circles and helped me get several singing and modelling gigs. As an actor, Mehreen Jabbar’s drama serial ‘Jackson Heights’ gave me a break as an actor. Things have been good for me after Jackson Heights. I have since worked in a number of dramas and commercials.

Do you have formal training in acting?

Yes, I do. I have taken formal acting classes in New York with Broadway acting coach and casting director Heidi Marshall.

In Pakistan, successful young actors need to be both good-looking and talented. Which, of the two, do you feel is your area of strength?

I think both are important in show business. It is, however, difficult for me to determine my own area of strength. I like to think that my talent is my area of strength but cannot say that for sure.

Published in Daily Times, December 4^th 2017.