Logo

Logo

Raees is also my film

Not much has changed for Mahira Khan. She is still the lithe, waif-like girl with the easy megawatt smile whose…

Raees is also my film

Mahira Khan (PHOTO: Facebook)

Not much has changed for Mahira Khan. She is still the lithe, waif-like girl with the easy megawatt smile whose eyes grow big when she is excited. She still seems unsure of herself and second-guesses herself constantly. She still makes wishes when she passes through tunnels, believing that tunnels have the power to make her wishes come true. For all her exposure since and despite now being a mother to a seven-year-old, you can tell that she is still inherently shy.

Three days ago, she made her debut in Indian cinema, opposite possibly the biggest star of the subcontinent. We meet at an upmarket restaurant for lunch that we selected assuming it would be mostly empty. But the moment she walks in she runs into her former school principal and some of her former teachers. Later they — and at least four other groups of people come over to get “selfies” with her. She cannot refuse, she never once lets on that she’s probably a bit tired of the routine. They cannot believe their luck. Thankfully the interruptions don’t last very long.

I begin by asking her if she feels disappointed about Raees likely not releasing in Pakistan.

Advertisement

“Of course,” she shoots back. “I want my country to see this. But if there’s one thing I’ve learnt over these two years it’s that there are things beyond one’s control. I mean you can save a scene, you can fix things later in film but there are things that are out of your reach. You just can’t do anything.”

With the eruption of tensions between Pakistan and India, Mahira and fellow actors such as Fawad Khan and Ali Zafar who were forced to abandon future projects in India — suddenly fell quiet, perhaps understandably. I wonder what she really felt then. “It was painful,” is the only thing she will still venture.

But she waxes eloquent about the friendships she made across the border.

“I was coming here and the new song is out and we have a group of friends (from the film crew) who send messages whenever something happens and everyone was sending messages and I had tears rolling down in the car. Again. For the tenth time! And my hairstylist sent me a message saying ‘I think we should always say goodbye with tears because we always meet again when we do that.’ And I am so indebted to all of them, especially my director Rahul Dholakia and the producer Ritesh Sidhwani, who have stood by me even at the worst of times.

“I can’t just move on. It’s my work. Yes I’m grateful, but it’s something I have worked for! I also want to promote the film. I also want to be in an interview with Shah Rukh Khan talking about it. Why not? Why is it I get told that that’s asking for too much? It isn’t! It is my right. This was also my film.”

I ask the inevitable question — so what was it like working with Shah Rukh Khan? She tries to deflect. “Ask me something else; I have talked about it so much I’ll say the same things.”

So I ask her about his quirks. “He is magic, honestly. He spoilt me for life. He used to tell me to do things this way; do it that way. At one point I asked him, am I not doing it right? He said, ‘Look I am only telling you what I know, from my experience. You do it your way but all I want is when you see yourself on screen you don’t come to me and say, why didn’t you tell me!’ Other than that, he’s so bloody smart.

“We’ve had amazing conversations. It’s so much fun to talk to someone who’s intelligent. It’s not just about films, he can talk about anything! He was watching Narcos while we were shooting and he can talk about books and history… Of course I’ve always been a fan,” she says.

Mahira changes gears. “Look, everyone goes through things, everyone has a story. That’s why strangers are so interesting. I don’t find a single human being boring. So it’s not about me as an isolated case, but I do feel my job is a unique one. That changes a lot of stuff. You’re going through whatever you’re going through at home and then you have to get up and go to work. And what is your work? You have to bare your soul, give in to a character. So today your character might be happy because she’s so in love but you might be going through the exact opposite. You’re surrendering to a feeling that doesn’t exist right now in your headspace, your soul, your heart. But you have to do it.”

I ask her if she sees a difference between being a star and an actor. She is dismissive of the question. “This whole star versus actor debate I find very silly. Marlon Brando I think said, ‘You’re as good as the role that you choose.’ That’s about it. Would I be who I am without a Khirad in Humsafar? Maybe not. I think every few decades the audience laps up somebody and makes them into a star. That’s all that happens. To analyse it is, I feel, a waste of time.” But then she adds, “My understanding is the day I start looking at myself as a star is the day I will die as an actor.”

But what does she dream about now that she’s hit the pinnacle of stardom? “I need to start dreaming again,” she says with her eyes brightening, “This was the dream. I prayed for it in every namaaz of mine; in every under the tunnel wish. But yes, however small, I need to dream again.”

Those are not stars in Mahira Khan’s eyes. They are dreams.

Dawn/ANN

Advertisement