Marina Khan was born in Peshawar on December 26, 1962. Khan’s mother is English and her father Pakistani ,who served in the Pakistan Air Force. True to her Capricorn star sign, Marina is a lively, humorous, romantic, committed and sensitive person, with a special love for cats and dogs.

Marina remembers her childhood fondly :

“My father was in the Forces so we practically had to shift base every two years. Each time we moved, there was a new school and environment. The real friends that I made during my school days were when I got into class eight. I don’t have what would you call ‘childhood friends’. The thing with so much shifting around is that one never develops any deep association for any institute. Otherwise, I enjoyed the process of packing, going to a new home, decorating my new room and all. It was fun but I am sure my parents got fed up with all the shifting. My brother, Zarak, was not around the house as he was sent to a boarding school to ensure he had steady schooling. I guess I did feel lonely. Despite the fact that we fought a lot, it was wonderful when he used to come home.”

“Marina’s career in acting started with the long play, Rashid Minhas. Soon after came the hit serial, Tanhaiyan, which gave her instant recognition and the nickname, “Pink Panther”. Since then, Khan has worked in a number of plays that include: Ehsas; Dhoop Kinaray; Nijaat; Farar; Tum se kahna tha; Khali haath and Tanha, a serial in India written by Haseena Mom and was recently aired again on Star Plus. She has also been involved in theatre with Yasmin Ismail and Rahat Kazmi. Now Marina has ventured into Direction and debuted with, Tum hi to ho. Khan also runs the production company, ‘FAT CAT’ Production.”

So how did Marina enter this field ?

“My friend, Kehkashan Awan was working in the serial, Jungle, and I used to go with her to the studios just to see what it was all about. The assistant director to Shehzad Khalil (who produced and directed Rashid Minhas) had met me and I think at that point he was looking for a new face and asked me if I had ever acted or had thought about it. I replied that I had acted once in a while in school and college. I also told him that Urdu was my weak point. He was quite fine with it and named five people who have problems speaking in Urdu! He managed to convince me. After that came Tanhaiyan, which was also Shehzad Khalil’s production.”

Marina has fond memories of those days. ‘Tanhaiyan’ was a classic, it just became one of those plays. Though we hardly had any competition way back then, it was a huge success. Shehzad Khalil was the main force behind Tanhaiyan; that is one reason why I chose to work in this play. He was an amazing director.

“The script writer, Haseena Moin, was very apprehensive – obviously, there was this nobody (me) from nowhere, but Shehzad sahib had full confidence in me and saw beyond my Urdu. To convince Haseena Apa, he gave me a scene from Ankahi and made me rehearse. Shehzad sahib had made up his mind that he wanted me in Tanhaiyan. I went early to the studio and kept on rehearsing so when the moment came, there I was and there was Haseena Apa, sitting in one corner. I was so nervous!” And how did she manage to overcome her problem with Urdu? “I used to go two to three hours early for rehearsals and sit with the assistant director, Shaheen Ansari, and rewrite on the script itself, reading it along the way. By the time the actors would come, I was quite prepared. I remember Qazi sahib once commented, ‘Yeh ladki khoon thukwaya gi.’ We had a lot of fun during Tanhaiyan and we were like one big happy family.”

Marina recalls with a smile: “There was this scene where Shehnaz comes late and I am very upset with her and start shouting, ‘Bilcul tumhay koi fikar nahin hai, hum toh samjahy kay tum kissi rickshi taxa kay nichay ah gayee.’ Suddenly there was silence and then everybody started laughing and I was left wondering what I said. They asked me: Marina what is a rickshi-taxa?!”

The role of Saniya made Marina a household name and she is still identified with that character. “Nobody allowed me to come out of character. I was also very comfortable with it, but after a while I said I couldn’t do the same thing again and again. If you have a good director you don’t mind, as he/she will get the best out of you. But if you leave it up to me, I’ll do it the way I have always liked to do it with a good director. For instance, I thoroughly enjoyed Tum se kehna tha. Sahira guided me and would tell me not to be Saniya”. Right after Tanhaiyan, Marina did a serious role in Ehsas, which was a total change. After that came Dhoop kinaray, a mix of the comic and the serious. Her character in this serial was quite memorable as Marina romanced with Rahat Kazmi. Though she considers herself to be a romantic person by heart and believes in projecting romance and love as much as she can while directing, when it comes to doing romantic scenes, she finds herself unable to romance on screen. “During the making of this serial, I literally sailed through. I was on cloud nine as I was madly in love on a personal front. My mind was somewhere else. I just didn’t want to be in the studio and I didn’t feel like doing the romantic scenes with Rahat. I would start laughing during the scenes. Rahat would get upset as he hated the fact that I was starring opposite him and he kept calling me ‘kal ki bachci’ who couldn’t even speak Urdu correctly. Sahira literally yelled at me, and at the same time coaxed her husband to do a romantic scene with me. She was definitely caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. But now when I watch that play, it seems so effortless – hats off to Sahira, she handled it all so well.”

Earlier in the conversation, Marina mentioned that she was madly in love during the making of Dhoop kinaray. Considering her marriage was based on love, does Khan subscribe to the institution of marriage and where does her marriage to Jaleel Akhtar stand?

“Yes, I totally subscribe to the institution of marriage. It is a two-sided affair. There has be give-and-take from both sides. There should be humor and understanding, allowing the other person to grow by giving him/her space. Trust is the most important element in a marriage. Never try to change your partner as you are marrying the person you met and saw. If you do that, then your spouse will try too hard to change and he/she will not be the same person. Certain things do bind us together while other things change automatically.”

“I am married to the most wonderful human being. I have been very lucky. My life has not changed one bit. He is in the same field as I am, which is an added advantage. We don’t have kids so we are together all the time. I haven’t given up anything in my life. My love for animals continues, I don’t think I would have married a man who did not like animals.”

Most of Marina Khan’s acting career was with PTV. Why, then, did she go on the infamous strike against the organization?

“It all started when a news item appeared in the papers saying that artists would be getting a lesser salary than what they were originally given. The article felt like a slap in the face. I consider myself new, but people like Talat Hussain, Badar Khalil, Qazi Wajid are the ones who have given everything to Pakistan Television. Without any regard and respect for them, PTV gave a little snippet in the paper about such an important issue. So we got together and said, ‘fine, if that’s what you think of us then we are not going to work for you”. People like Behrouz and Shabir Jan walked out of serials already on air. Initially, we had a whole bunch of people supporting us but of course as we are Pakistanis, we obviously don’t stick together and many opted out’. On the whole, it was a lovely feeling to be under one roof, fighting for one cause. I feel sorry for the ones who were not with us – I call them ‘two-faced’ and ‘lotas’. I think that they should have stuck with us because in the end we would have won. As for PTV, the fact is that we have brought it respect and worked for nothing. Suddenly, the authorities turned around and implied that they are the ones who made us. Okay, even if they did make us as stars, there must have been something in us that they decided to use. You earn respect, you cannot forcibly ask for it and at that point PTV did not need the respect it was getting because it was just kicking us in the face.

With reference to PTV, Marina holds Shehzad Khalil in high esteem. She remembers him as a humble and wonderful person. “He was one person who respected every person in the studio. He was never a ‘me, myself’ person. When we were on the sets, he used to see to it that everything was completed on time. If we did not learn our lines and things got delayed because of us or anyone else, he used to give us hell”.

“Shehzad sahib never once claimed that he was the one to introduce me to show business. Haseena Apa once took credit for it but as much as I love her, I have to say she did not. It was Shehzad sahib, he literally fought for me for Tanhaiyan.”

For Marina, her fellow actors were fun to be with. She talks fondly of all the actors she has worked with. “It was a lot of fun working with Shehnaz. We are still in touch and whenever I see her on television, I stop and watch the whole programme just because of her. She is an amazing person and yes, she was a fool to stop acting. Sania and Huma Nawab, my co-actors in Farar, were a pleasure to work with. I remember there was this scene with Huma and Sania where I was supposed to cry but I just couldn’t stop laughing. Sania used to get very angry and the more she got upset, the more we would laugh! Sania is very serious when she is acting. She is a very professional actress. Recently, I did a play with Humayun Saeed. He is a good actor and has done a brilliant job. I am very happy with his work. He understands the subtlety of acting. He’ll give you his all.”

Marina went to India to work for Haseena Moin’s serial, Tanha, for a three-day-shooting schedule in Raigarh village, outside Mumbai. “Working there was a wonderful experience. Indians are very professional in their work and have a lot of respect for artists. We were working with a team of seventy-five people but everyone was doing their job. Nothing was delayed.”

How would she compare ours to their television industry ?

“Look at how small the world has become… and yet we want to stick to our little corner. India is doing a lot for its entertainment industry. Recently, I was in New York and attended the first Bollywood music awards. Atiqa was invited and I was visiting. Later, a television program was aired on an Indian-based channel with Atiqa, the Indian singer, Suneeta Rao and I. Live telephone calls were coming in so that people could talk to us. Most of the calls were for Atiqa and I. I was shocked as I thought nobody would know who we were. Most of the people who called up were Pakistani and were so happy and proud to see us. I was so overwhelmed with the welcome feelings and thoughts. We should take shows abroad and give our artists the exposure they deserve”.
“It took me fourteen years to get into Direction. The first time, I directed just to see if I could do it or not. I enjoyed it, so I stuck to it. My directorial play, Tum hi to ho was not a good experience as there were too many tensions. I think I mismanaged a few things and Humayun definitely mismanaged some, too. I was working with Shabir Jan for the first time and we had our differences. He is a brilliant actor; I would love to work with him again but on my terms, not on anyone else’s. Then there was this new girl with whom I had a bit of a problem. I had Vinnie and Atiqa in this play but they never objected to their roles. But this new girl behaved very badly and I don’t want to work with her again.”

So will ‘Marina, the director’ like to be ‘Marina, the actress’ ?

“I hate being behind the camera and in front of the camera at the same time. I can’t direct myself. I am a director’s actor. I feel I need someone telling me what to do and how to do it. Initially, Humayun asked me to play the role of Vinnie but I was more interested in being behind the camera”.

What is Marina, the director, working on these days ?

“I am busy editing two Eid plays. One is Satish Anand’s Eid dot.com, the other is Humayun Saeed’s Tu lakh chalay re gori. I had a wonderful time doing Tu lakh chalay re gori. We had five days of recordings and it was a blast. Normally, one tends to get tense but I was going home and not feeling tired. The cast included Atiqa, Humayun, Ismat Zaidi and Sumayra – all lovely to work with. I loved the script of the play – it’s very cinematic. I had an excellent editor, Mussaver. I strongly believe that you should enjoy your work and create a relaxing atmosphere. I would hate to be a director who tells artists to act in a particular way. I’d rather let them be, and just guide them.”

“I hope to do a sitcom and then, Kirchiayan, another play that was written two years ago. It’s a lovely story. I want to keep it as a long play. Next year, inshallah, if someone gives me the money, I’ll make a film. I am dying to make a good film. And in that, I am going to have a special dance number that I am going to do myself. Oh yes, I just have to do a Alfred Hitchcock dance. Why not?”
“Marina has recently migrated to Canada. Once settled, she’ll see how things work out. She feels that the decision to go abroad is a good option, as one doesn’t know what the future holds here. “It is such a political yo-yo here. One day there is no censorship and then one hears that the duppatta policy is in place. I feel that it is not fair on the people who have put money and hard work in a feature only to suddenly hear that certain things cannot be shown because of a sudden change in [social] policy. If you have the means, capability, and are intelligent enough, there is no harm in having an option. Having an option does not mean that you are betraying your country because no one can take your country away from you.”

S. Rasool

Pakistani drama industry has got a big list of celebrities who are adored for their contributions in the field of acting and Sania Saeed is one of them. Whether it be her Sitara Aur Mehrunisa, her Zaib-un-Nisa, Aahat, reality show Maa or Numm and Aseerzadi now, Sania has always proven that she knows every bit of acting by showing versatility in all her onscreen characters.

 Been born on August 20^th 1975 in Lahore, Sania is often called as ‘Sani’ by her friends and family. Belonging to an educated family of Punjab, Sania is has done B.E. in Psychology from the University of Punjab. For her flawless acting, she has won 2nd Lux Style Award for best actress award, 16th PTV Best Actress Award,3rd PTV Best Actress Award so far.

 Out of so many interviews that I have come across lately, this one is, for sure, the best of all.

 Have a look!

From theater to acting on the small screen, how has the journey been so far?

When I started working for theater it was the early 90s and it was an Indian script called ‘Aurat’ that we reproduced for the Pakistani theater for the 8th of March. That was the beginning of my career as an entertainer. Then I did some theater on and off, but went back my studies. Later I joined NTM as an announcer; in fact I was the first announcer who opened the NTM transmission from Karachi. Then Sahira Kazmi offered me ‘Aahat’ for which I had to leave the job. But the job was not that important for me in any case, so I quit the job at NTM and went for ‘Aahat’.

How was the experience of working with a legend like Sahira Kazmi?

While working with her in ‘Aahat’ I realized that television as a medium has a lot of potential and I really enjoyed working with Sahira especially. There was a lot of interaction, she never treated me like a new actor or a child, and she would not let go of a mistake I made, and corrected me all the time. But in the end it was a learning experience for me. Years later she came to me full of appreciation and said that this is why I never gave you space, because I knew you could do it better.

If acting didn’t work out, what would have been an alternative career for Sania Saeed?

I have been trained to be a psychologist and if I had not ventured into dramas and acting, that would have been my field of choice. The subject interests me and human psychology has so much to it. That is my approach towards my characters as well, to analyze and perform a role by first assessing the psychology of a character. I might have been a teacher or a Vet, as a child I always wanted to be a vet.

Did your family accept it at once that you have chosen media as a career?

 I never had much opposition in whatever I wanted to do. I come from a family where they believe in doing whatever you believe in doing, as long as you can stand by it. I take it as a job as a learning experience where I am still learning. I don’t take what comes as a result of my work too seriously, people’s opinions, especially when you are at college it becomes a lot to take when people come and appreciate you or criticize for the work. I am just not cut out to be a ‘Star’ and I can’t lose my personality to adapt the kind of persona that is requisite to be a star.

 You have been working for a long time now, what changes have you seen in the industry?

This whole nostalgia business that our work used to be very good has more flash back value than real. We go flash back; Tanhaiaan was very good, flash back; Dhoop Kinarey or Aahat were very good. A lot of plays at that time too were very not very good and not very popular. If I ask you to name 10 plays from the 80s and 90s that were very good, you will not be able to do that. So we have just fallen into the habit of saying that the plays used to be much better in the past. There were many plays where the audience did not like the content, cast or acting and it is still the same. There are good and bad plays in every time. We have to accept this and learn to appreciate when people produce quality work because they are putting in a lot of effort and hard work.

 The drama industry has expanded in recent years; do you think the standard has deteriorated due to that?

I think this is all in our head, we are living in flashbacks. Every time we see a drama we go in flashback, Tanhaiyaan was so much better, or Dhoop Kinarey or Aahat for that matter. It is our fault that we have stopped looking at the new productions with an open mind; instead we revisit our past only thinking of a few good plays. If I ask you right now to name a dozen PTV productions from the 80s and early 90s that you can remember, you will not be able to do that. There have been both good and bad productions at every point in time, stop living in déjà vu and start finding the good in what is being done today. This might help the people who put in a lot of effort and energy into their work.

Which projects did you enjoy working on the most in recent times?

From my recent ventures Aao Kahani Buntey Hein has been my favorite project. Kanwal Khoosat had directed it and it is written by Afzal, a new writer, who developed the stories. It is very theatrical and creatively done. The story is of a writer and his wife who develop a story each night. They are the narrators and the actors as well.

 What are your considerations when choosing a project?

I am a storyteller; the first thing I look at is what am I saying and what is the story conveying to my audience. I do not want to do a role that I don’t want to stand by or they go home empty. It’s basically the story, what is the story saying, what impact will it have, what impact my character would have, not a big fan of big jargon and slogans. I like subliminal messages, I like portraying people in different light, I don’t like stereotyping which is what television drama have become. Sometimes even I get stuck with it, because it is your profession and you have to do something, but most times I have been able to avoid it.

There are other people playing an important role in the production, how do you negotiate it with them as how you want to play the role?

I am notorious for debating my character and projects, even though I like most of the people and like to work with everybody. But the kind of process that I want my work to have, not everybody works with that, that’s why I have ended up working with very few directors. In my whole career, which is more than a decade, I have only worked with seven or eight directors.

These days’ people choose to work on so many projects that if you switch channels you won’t know if that is the same play, why have you not done that, does money not as important for you?

This is a decision that you make as an artist and as a professional. What is it that you want to achieve from what you are doing? I have a skill, that I have made my career, I want people to remember me for the characters that I have performed, even if they forget my name, they should remember the plays that I have done and the characters that I have given to them. If I am doing similar plays all the time, then it will be a little difficult to achieve that. I will give my luck a lot of credit that people have come to me with substantial project, with which, by a lot of hard work, I have been able to get my characters recognized. So people remember my characters and the stories that I was telling.

Can you name some of the most memorable plays that you have done?

All the projects that I have done have been so different from each other in experience and have different memories; great memories that I would like to keep. I have learnt a lot from every project, every writer, director and cast that I have worked with. It’s a totally different energy and a totally different experience, so I would not be able to say which one was the most memorable.

How would you like to be remembered?

As an artist who worked hard, gave a lot of hard work, performed some good characters and was good at what she did and told good stories.

You have performed such diverse characters, from a vengeful step mother to a hardworking and caring daughter. What kind of characters do you find the most challenging?

I have to work very hard on my characters, hard in the sense that I want them to be different, I want them to be convincing, and I don’t think it’s a job you can take lightly. There is a lot that can assist the actors in their roles elsewhere, but in Pakistan, it mostly depends on the actor. They depend on the actor a bit too much; you have to establish the whole thing with only your performance. Make it convincing, create a persona, and come up with the get ups and all. So every character becomes invariably challenging for you. Like there was this play Lamha Lamha Zindagi, when I read the script I thought what is it about, what is the story saying? For me it was an inane script, with no impact. My character was crying throughout the serial. But my husband (Shahid Shafaat) was doing it, so he sat me down and asked me how I wanted to portray that character. So without changing anything with the script we managed to turn that character into a very controlled, strong and focused woman. Whose silence speaks for it, she is not cowing under the pressure but her silence became her strength. A lot of women I met later said that the character was all too good and they had told their daughters that a woman should have at least this much pride and grace in her. The character was not a proud in any bad way, but she had confidence in herself and she believed in what she was saying. So the point is that you have to create challenges for yourself and come up to them.

What factors contribute to a play’s success and facilitate you as an actor?

The success of a project depends on the entire team. Sometimes the directors is not that receptive to your ideas and does not let you perform a role in the manner you would prefer to do it. I think the understanding between an actor and other team members is key to a project’s success. The experience differs from project to project and script to script, but it is team work that eventually makes a script into a masterpiece.

What do you think is the biggest issue that we are faced with in our television productions?

The biggest problem at the moment is with scripts, and the stories television is telling people. The stories are bad, they have a negative impact, they are stereotyping men and women, and they are dictating a certain moral code which I don’t think is their business. They are telling the story in a manner that does not leave any questions in your mind, but only reinforces what you have already been told. These stories are not allowing you any thinking space; they are not challenging your already very strongly built belief system, which I think is the need of the day.

Why is it that such stories are being written, do you think the writers suffer a narrow vision?

Most of the plays are written by women and these women I think have a narrow vision. I do not call it good or bad in any manner, it is just their own life experiences which make them build such stories. They probably have spent their lives within the boundaries of this belief system, so they are writing whatever they can see and come up with in this narrow sphere. Television being a huge medium, in terms of its potential and its outreach could have been used to propagate thought provoking stories, which is where we lack. Channels have formed this notion about certain type of stories that this is what sells, this might not be wrong but we are not utilizing the mass medium to its full potential.

 What kind of criticism do you face as a seasoned actress?

I wish we did get criticism. I have been asking all the journalists I meet why they have stopped writing on television? Why there is no feedback for television? Criticism is an art and it is something that you cultivate, that you develop with time. You have to have an understanding to be in the rightful place to criticize. It’s not anyone’s business to do so. I want people to come up with productive criticism, it bothers me that they are either not thinking at all or if they are thinking, they are not able to verbalize it. People who call them critics write with a very superfluous vision, which does not contribute to the productions in any manner.

  Do you think the emphasis on perfecting a role is forsaken, in favor of quantity rather than quality? Who do you think can correct this?

That is true; quality is often compromised for quantity. It is us who can correct this behavior, we have to put our foot down and make them read a script of rehearse. When I am doing a role, I ask the other actors with me that I need rehearsal even if they don’t, none of the actors or directors have refused to rehearse with me. It has to be you who have to stand up to achieve perfection. You are responsible for the kind of developments that are taking place in your profession. Sometimes I may not need to practice a scene but the other actor does, so it’s my professional duty to make them rehearse the scene, so we can perform it convincingly. It about working together and synergy it is not an individualistic art.

Is there a chance that you will take up a movie project in Pakistan?

If they produce a film in Pakistan I will surely act, if offered a substantial role in it.

 As a person how would you define yourself?

I think no one can define themselves, you should ask others, the people we interact with, they might be better able to tell you about me.

You started off your career with plays like Aahat and Sitara aur Mehrunisa, do you think starting off your career from such a high level set you apart from others on a higher standard?

I would never think that way, either it is a very big project or a small one, if I take it up, I will consider it as a challenge and take it forward that way. Why create limits for yourself, when there is a lot more work to be done.

  Why do you think the standard of drama has been compromised? Is it due to extensive commercialization?

The industry is still new, give it some time. It will sift out the bad itself, you have to give it space. And of course productive criticism will also help in sorting things out. You write about something you do not like, once, twice, the third time it appears in print people will give a serious thought to evaluating their stories for that specific element. Don’t blame any individuals or the industry at large, think and come up with ways to reform it.

Hope you all enjoyed reading about her. Please share your views,

Wishes

Nida Zaidi

This ain’t a review at all but just an opening of a thread for all the viewers who’re keen to discuss the latest happenings in the drama Bashar Momin. I know the viewers have so much to talk about the drama & the review might be up soon enough but just in the meantime, you now have a platform to speak your hearts out about the drama, so go ahead & share your thoughts about the latest episode. :)

Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.