The Humsafar director and the pride of performance winner Sarmad Khoosat has created exceptional serials and with his performance in Manto, he made his mark in the industry.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, Sarmad opened up about his success and shared details on TV, film, his muse and much more.
Sarmad opened up saying that he’ll start working on his film from next year. Moreover, he said, he is a huge fan of Madhuri Dixit and if there’s one star which reminds him of Madhuri, it is Mahira Khan. “Mahira sort of reminds me of Madhubala and so does Madhuri.”
Moreover, earlier in an interview Mahira expressed that she became an actor because of Madhuri.
“I became an actor only because of Madhuri Dixit. I was watching Ram Lakhan and her song Bada dukh dina started playing. The moment I saw it, I told my mother, ‘I want to do it, I want to be on TV’. I used to always dance on Madhuri’s songs” says Mahira.
Sharing the fundamental difference between TV and films, Sarmad said, “If I look back at my career, I have mostly done television. Manto was an accidental film. We wanted it to be a serial, initially. The content thatManto had was so strong that we felt, we might have to slack the gist of it if it was to be aired on TV. Cinema has that magic attached to it, TV doesn’t.”
He also shared how he once asked Muzzafar Ali to enlighten him about the philosophy of film. To that, Muzzafar responded saying, “You don’t make a film, you live a film.”
On Moor Mahal not being a success in terms of rating, he said, “This is a thought process that goes into the maker’s mind. If a particular serial is working, many start making similar shows based on that narrative.”Before Humsafar, many directors didn’t resort to making romantic TV serials, we changed the narrative.”
Sarmad also shared why he didn’t want to travel with Fawad and Mahira jokingly and said, “After Humsafar, I told these two I won’t be travelling with them. People start gathering around you two and I feel like I belong to another planet who shouldn’t be here.”
While discussing Manto, he said, “Every man should own the dirt in him. You can call it your flaws, it could be biological or mental. It’s important to take it out of your system. Manto is open, he talks about the openness of mind and body.”
He further added saying, “I should have made more mistakes in my youth. I was extremely boring. Life should be lived freely and there should be no inhibitions.”