Daily Times

Time and time again Gohar Rasheed has astounded us all with his manifold roles on the big and small screen. While most of his characters have been villainous in nature, yet the provocative roles played by him left a lasting impression that stayed with us for a very long time. There is more to this man and a side that most of us never knew. His famous dramas like ‘Man Mayal’, ‘Digest writer’, ‘Mujhye Jeenay do’ reveal a pattern in the kind of scripts the actor selects for himself. Even ‘ Wasim Wallay’ in the movie Rangreza was a character enough to boil your blood, but all of these scripts had one thing in common- they all preached about women empowerment, they all spoke against the most heinous crimes that are committed against women in our society. Most of Gohar’s dramas have been about liberating the women kind. ‘Mujhey Jeena do’ was against the culture of child marriage. Rangreza’s climax scene left us all breathless-without words the actor depicted a very powerful message for the acid attackers. Gohar Rasheed maybe a villain on script, but a sweet heart in real life. In his interview with daily times, the actor gives us details about his latest and the much awaited movie ‘Maula Jatt’

What are you currently working on?

I am excited to be a part of an upcoming web series. It has an amazing star cast like Iman Ali and Imran Ashraf. There’s also another web series called ‘Baadshah Begum’ that’s in the pipeline and then there’s ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’. There are a couple of more projects that I can’t announce yet.

When is ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ finally releasing?

God willing, the film will be released on Eidul Fitr this year. We’ve now started the promotions for it.

What took the film so long?

You might’ve seen the trailer. Now imagine making that kind of a film with the limited resources we have, in fact zero resources. First, we had to generate resources and then work on the film that included the cast, production and then Bilal Lashari who is a perfectionist to the core in nature. Every film takes a certain amount of time especially when it is as grand as ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt.’ There were many other external factors that caused the delay. The film is hugely based on set, so a lot of times, the weather became a reason. All of a sudden, there would be rain and the whole set had to be constructed again. The film was shot in the scorching, unbearable, summer heat of Lahore. The actors were injured on several occasions like falling from a horse, so there’s a whole list of reasons why the audience had to wait a little more. Ammara Hikmat who is the driving force behind the film though she looks very petite but an absolute powerhouse, kudos to her, Ali Murtaza and  Bilal Lashari  who shot the whole film in remote areas, far from civilisation. This film could’ve taken much more time to release due to the limited resources and a whole bunch of other things, but these guys put in a lot of hard work. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this film took 10 years to release, because of the kind of work and massive sets we had to work around.

There are other kinds of rumours about the film about what caused the delays and roles that we have been hearing. Are those rumours true?

All rumours are bogus. Nothing about them is true, but it doesn’t really matter. There’re also rumours about me having an intimate scene with Humaima Malik, when actually, she’s playing my sister in the film. There, you have it – an inside scoop about the film.

Which has been your most memorable character?

To be very honest, the last character that I play or perform is always my favourite. I liked each of my characters in the past too, that is why I chose them. ‘Makhanat’ is my most recent character and thus my favourite one too.

Who has been your most favourite female co-star?

I’ve been so lucky to get to work with the finest actresses of the industry. People like Nadia Jamil and then recently Humaima Malik – I mean, look at the line-up. Look at the amazing actresses I’ve worked with. They’re all power houses in their skill. How can I ever choose a favourite?

So you don’t feel chemistry or ease while working around a certain few actresses?

Mostly the kind of roles I do, doesn’t really need chemistry with the actresses.

Share a crazy fan moment.

So far, the craziest fan moment was when I was about to get slapped in the face, during ‘Man Mayal’ days, because of my character in the drama. I was on my way to watch a film in the cinema when I was approached by a group of women at the mall. One of them asked me, “Are you Mikael from ‘Man Mayal’? And I proudly nodded, thinking that she might want to compliment me for my acting. She demanded, “Immediately leave this place.” I laughed thinking she might be kidding, but she wasn’t. She became fierce and threatened me saying, “You better leave right away or I’m actually going to slap you!” I took the warning and walked away from her. It has been my craziest encounter so far.

Rate these actresses in terms of talent from the list of five female actresses you have worked with: Urwa Hocane, Maya Ali, Hareem Farooq, Mahira Khan and Sana Javed.

Maya Ali, Mahira Khan, Hareem Farooq, Sana Javed and Urwa Hocane.

Do you deliberately pick scripts with a heavy message on women empowerment or is it a coincidence?

Before signing a project, my first condition is that I will not enact any form of physical violence on a lady. There’re gazillion other ways through dialogues and creativity to do the same thing. Just because of television rating points, I’m not going to send the wrong message across. It’s so convenient to hit a girl on TV and somewhat subconsciously, you are sending that message to everyone and making it a norm. No matter how much intense the scene is, I refuse to raise my hand on a woman. And yes, 80 percent of my scripts are chosen because of a good moral. It’s for a fact true that every evil has its consequences, so the whole act of karma sends out a very important message across. There’s another thing that I would like to add. Producers, directors, content makers and actors; we all have to be very responsible while making and choosing scripts. Let’s stop making a formula out of social taboos in our society and overdoing them. There’s one drama on rape and all of a sudden everyone wants to make a drama about rape. There’s one drama on child abuse and acid-attackers; it soon becomes a standard formula for more dramas. We can show one drama about child abuse and then move on onto other kinds of entertaining scripts. I do make a conscious effort to choose roles that have an impact on the audience that makes them think and reconsider. We all need to be responsible individually.

Before the interview, we asked our Instagram followers what they would like to ask you. Most of them had the same question to ask: why do you always choose to be a villain?

I really want to be remembered as an actor rather than a star. To me, a villain is an anti-hero. He is the truth of our society and reflects the kind of jahil mindset most men have in our society. I’m here to be an actor. If I wanted to be a star, my choices would’ve been very different. There’s a better performance margin for a villain. Stars can be replaced, but actors leave a lasting impression on their audience. Just be fair to your craft and you will always be remembered for it.

There was once a controversial cover for a magazine where you had Kubra Khan on your back. Would you like to explain what that was about?

It’s a symbolic representation. Maybe, we weren’t able to exhibit it properly. Even though art has its own perspective, each one of us can have various interpretations for the same piece of painting or any visual art. It’s open to the perception. Kubra Khan isn’t a handicap; I’m carrying her with pride and she’s at my back. Just like how one rides a horse, women can control and intimidate men and men can carry their woman with pride. That was the whole intention, but my bad, no one understood it. I’m a firm believer that a woman is created to be powerful. She can do anything she puts her mind to. No man on this Earth can stand the pain of child birth. A woman is not weak, aurat ko support ki zaroorat nahi hai and neither do they need permission for empowerment. When the women voice the need of equal rights and equal salaries, who are they actually seeking permission from? A woman is enough to conquer all the obstacles. If she wants that change, she can become the change she wants to see. If women have a demand, they can simply do as they please without the need of approval. Our industry is in fact a field where women are paid more than men. It should be embedded in a woman’s mind that they’re empowered and don’t need a man’s permission. No man is worthy to give them permission.

Who is your favourite male actor in the industry?

From contemporary and conventional, good looking, pappu men, the trend is slowly shifting towards experimenting with looks and the choice of roles. It’s slowly becoming a trend in the industry. For example Humayan Saeed’s character Fawad Khagga in ‘Punjab Nahi Jaungi’ is by far one of my most favourites, then Fawad Khan as Maula Jatt, where we see a hero more than just a pretty face, even Hamza Ali Abbasi in ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ as Noorinath and Imran Ashraf breaking in with his character in ‘Ranjha Ranjha Keri’ as the character Bhola has completely transformed the spectrum of audience. So while the pappu bacha trend is still on, in comes an actor who wins the hearts not just with a pretty face, his blow dried hair and pink lips, but with the class and quality of his acting. Now even the audience has an appetite for such scripts. They want something more than just pretty faces. People still have a list of favourite pretty faces, but they demand to see more out of an actor. My favourite actors are all those who in the recent past have pushed the angle and challenged themselves by choosing roles that were out of their comfort zone. These few names are the top four that I can think of right now. Their characters are fresh on my mind.

Do you have a message for our readers?

Daily Times has been a very important part of my life growing up. I’ve an important message for its readers. It’s not just people in the limelight that can be burdened with responsibility; the audience has an individual responsibility too. It’s the audience that shapes up the content we produce, so if you don’t like anything you see in dramas, for example the crying, violence, the divorce trend, marital abuse and affairs or anything of the sort, we’re making a certain kind of content when it comes to dramas because you guys are watching it. There is an appetite for dramas about divorce, extra marital affairs and all such evils of the society. People can’t deny liking such content because we produce more of what gets the most amount of ratings. Looking at the stats, apparently this is what the audience likes to see. It’s a humble request to please be responsible. If you don’t like what you see, you have a very powerful tool called the social media, speak against it. Say you don’t like such content, say that it harms the minds of your children and you don’t want to expose the coming generation to such dramas. Be responsible towards what you are watching, because everything that we watch subconsciously affects our minds. You may be getting comfortable around scenes of violence just because we don’t use our right to condemn things we do not wish to see on our TV screens. There is a reason why the holy Quran mentions that we should cover evil and not promote it. Showing too much evil gives birth to more evil. So my humble message is for each and every one to be more responsible and condemn dramas you don’t approve of.

The writer can be reached at zarimua@gmail.com