Mahira Khan came back on the television screen after seven years with her role as Mashal in “Hum Kahan Kay Sachay Thay”, and she sat down with Something Haute to discuss her experience on working on the series and what her character is like.
Opening up about the experience of coming back to working on television screens after nine years, the actress said that it was a humbling thing to witness after having worked on film screens for so long.
“This was quite a humbling experience since before I use to think that there was no difference between working on a film or television set. But after coming back from a long break, I’ve realized that working on television sets is much more harder, since you’re shooting 8 or 9 scenes a day and you have to share everything with everyone. But on a film set, you had a separate room and makeup set and you had to complete two scenes to be done for the day. It was hard especially to work in this heat and you had to bring your A game every day, but we managed and I’m proud of the work we completed.”
Opening up about her character Mehreen, Mahira Khan said she was unlike anything she had done before because while her previous characters were good girls, Mehreen was an unhappy, bitter person who was a product of the circumstances she was born in to.
“I was given the role of Mehreen, and the more I read it I found it to be quite unlike anything that has been done before. I fell in love with Mehreen’s character since she isn’t a damsel in distress despite the fact that she’s from poor circumstances. I also loved how rude she is to other people. Before this was something that shocked me, but now I’ve come to realize that this is someone who is unhappy because she has come from a family that is bitter to her. I have played women before who came from broken families, and yet they were always hopeful, and you could see some spark in them, but yet you don’t see this with Mehreen.”
On whether audiences would draw a comparison between Mehreen to Mahira Khan’s most beloved role as Khirad in “Humsafar”, Mahira said that couldn’t be the case since both women came from different circumstances and had different personalities:
“Khirad is a completely different character from Mehreen because both dealt with different circumstances. Khirad had met Ashar who treated her with kindness. I believe that it’s about the hand you’re dealt with, and how the people in your life treat you. Mehreen on the other hand has come from a family which has not treated her kindly, hence she is this person. The only time you will see her smile is when she is around her friend. But when she’s at home, you can see that she knows this isn’t the life that she wants.”
Mahira Khan also revealed that the other main attraction that drew her to working on this script was the topic of childhood trauma, which is a relevant theme in the show. She said that she had discussions with the novelist Umera Ahmed, who wrote the script for the drama, on what her character should be like:
“I also was attracted to this show because I loved the theme that it revolved around. How children become the bitter adults that they are by listening to the bitter adults around them and absorb it to become the same people. I read the first episode and I found this to be quite beautiful, how children who were innocent angels suddenly become adults who are enemies with those people they played with as children. I also had a lot of discussions with the novelist Umera Ahmed on how my character should be like. I know that the novel is quite depressing, but I requested her that in the show we find a solution to the conflict.”
Mahira also spoke about her experience of working with other actors like Kubra Khan and Umar Mukhtar, and gushed about how cooperative everyone was that made this project into a success:
“I enjoyed spending time with my co-stars, especially with the rest of the film crew and I made sure that even after shooting scenes we form a bond. My bond with Umar and Kubra worked well because we had endless discussions about our characters and how certain scenes could come out. This was also an all women set, since we had few men working here, so I felt quite safe there.”
You can listen to the full interview below:
