Veteran actress Rubina Ashraf sat down with BBC Urdu to discuss her career as a television actress and how she felt that the entertainment industry is quite different from the past. The actress mentioned that the craft of acting is not taken so seriously today by young people as how she had taken it when she had first entered in to the industry and was working with legendary people like Abid Ali and Munawar Saeed:
“There are some people who are still passionate about acting, but a lot of people are not. I remember when I first came into the industry and I was quite young, I was working next to legendary stars like Abid Ali, Munawar Saeed and Firdous Jamal. I re-call how nervous I was to be in their company, and I spent most of my time carefully observing how they delivered a scene, the pause they took, when they broke off a dialogue, or their mannerisms. I feel like you need to dedicate time and energy to perfecting your craft or otherwise you will not see yourselves having a long career in this industry. Nepotism doesn’t work at all. You can be a famous actor or actresses son but it’s your talent that gets you far.”
Rubina Ashraf also talked about how actors and actresses today were able to gain access to a wider audience due to the pressence of social media, which was quite different from when she was working as a full time actor. When asked about the most memorable moments she had while working on sets which she wishes were brought back today, Rubina said she wished rehearsals were made a mandatory part on sets
“Rehearsals are quite important to making sure you give the best performance on a show, but they are not considered any more to be a necessary part of a show. I consider myself to be a dedicated actress, I like to rehearse every scene to ensure that I bring my best in every scene. I remember I was once working along side this young woman who was my co-actor. I advised her that before performing a scene, make sure to always read the previous scene and the scene that takes place afterwards, so she is aware of what happens before, and what will it lead to. She promised she would do so, but when we were performing the scene together, I realized that she didn’t follow my instructions at all!”
Rubina also opened up about her experience of contracting covid-19 while she was shooting the television serial “Khuda Aur Mohabbat” and how did she manage to give such a stellar performance as Mahi’s mother while batttling the illness:
“I shot most of Khuda Aur Mohabbat before my illness, and then some of it was shot later. Because by the time I got sick they had announced the shooting dates for which we had to travel to Multan and Lahore. So when they found out about my illness, they postponed the travelling and shot some of the scenes which did not include me. And then a year later when I got better I went back and completed my final scenes.”
You can listen to her complete interview below:
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