interview<\/a>, the emerging actors opened up about their journeys into the entertainment industry, the families and careers they came from, and what they have learnt since stepping in front of the camera.<\/p>\nTheir paths have taken them from education and corporate jobs to modelling, school performances and childhood Dubsmash videos \u2014 proving there is no single route into acting.<\/p>\n
For Jaffri, acting was never part of the plan. Before entering modelling, he was a football enthusiast. \u201cI used to play football and had long hair. I used to watch Italian footballers,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
It was a friend, Ali Shakeel, who first introduced him to modelling. Jaffri had little idea what the profession involved at the time. \u201cHe was like, \u2018I want to shoot you.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know about modelling. I was like, \u2018Oh, there are magazines too?\u2019 From there, my portfolio went on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Modelling eventually opened the door to acting. Director Sarmad Khoosat encouraged him to make the transition, leading to his project\u00a0Paani Jaisa Pyaar<\/em>. Jaffri later appeared in dramas such as\u00a0Deewar<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Bas Tere Saath<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe move from modelling to acting, however, required him to develop an entirely different set of skills. \u201cModelling is more about posture. Here, it\u2019s a different line of expressions and dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working alongside seasoned actors has also been an important part of his learning curve. Jaffri recalled his experience with Nauman Ijaz in the telefilm\u00a0Chal Dil Mere<\/em>\u00a0as particularly valuable. \u201cHe is a very good teacher. He tells you the whole scene, how to do it. He\u2019s amazing at it. He understands your character very well too.\u201d<\/p>\nWhile showbiz became an increasingly important part of his life, education remained a priority. Jaffri said his father, who holds a PhD in computer science, initially wanted him to focus on academics and was not particularly enthusiastic about his modelling ambitions.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Jaffri found a way to pursue both. He completed a master\u2019s degree in business and technology and interned at Coca-Cola, gaining first-hand experience of the corporate world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think education is very important. Your exposure and understanding increases,\u201d he said. \u201cWherever you\u2019re going, marketing also plays a role \u2014 the theories of how to approach someone or go about a brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
A second career for Saima<\/strong><\/p>\nUnlike Jaffri, Saima Hussyn did not grow up with a clear ambition to become an actor. \u201cI was not interested, but when someone pitched me the idea, I was doing a nine-to-five job at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
She had heard similar suggestions from others but had never taken them seriously. Fahad Sarfaraz, however, convinced her to at least give it a try. \u201cMany people had said it to me, but I didn\u2019t take it seriously. So he was like, \u2018Okay, just give an audition.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The audition did not even lead to the character she had initially tried out for. The production team felt her appearance was better suited to another role and cast her accordingly. \u201cThey thought my face was very innocent for that role, so they gave me another drama.\u201d<\/p>\n
About a year into her television career, Hussyn had appeared in\u00a0Daam-e-Mohabbat<\/em>, with another project,\u00a0Kaisa Yeh Ishq<\/em>, yet to air. At the same time, she is pursuing a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology \u2014 a combination that makes for long days on set. \u201cThis is 12 hours\u2019 time, but at least this is something I like to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nShe is also the younger sister of actor Sonya Hussyn, a connection that inevitably brings assumptions about nepotism. She, however, believes audiences are capable of deciding for themselves who deserves to move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people say, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s easy because she\u2019s her sister,\u2019 I think the audience is intelligent enough now to know that you only go beyond if you excel in acting. If they like her, they\u2019ll make her go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For some, acting is a childhood ambition. For others, it begins with an unexpected audition, a friend\u2019s suggestion or even a chance conversation on a film set. For Rizwan Ali Jaffri, Saima Hussyn, Mahnoor Sheikh and Noor Xarmina, the road to showbiz has been anything but conventional. In an\u00a0interview, the emerging actors opened up about …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5000,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998\/revisions\/5000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}