Sania Saeed: The powerhouse of acting

Karachi:
On my way to the PH Solutions’ office (a PR firm) I had the rough and tough Sania Saeed in my mind. Just like Zarghuna of Sang e Mah. Secretly harbouring a wish to meet this living legend, I finally stepped into the office, after meeting everyone, I peaked through a glass door of the room where Sania was having a snack break as she was constantly giving interviews since morning.

I waved at her and she smiled and waved back and I took this little interaction a sign of having broken the ice. An hour later, I finally had the beauty seated right in front of me. Her eyes were shining with a spark in them and her smile was so heartwarming and captivating that I forgot my questions. I quickly took out the paper from the notepad where I had written down my questions.

Before starting the interview, I, who rarely gets nervous before most interviews, confessed how nervous I was and why? She gave me her radiant smile.

I turned the recorder on and asked her about her role in Kamli: “She is a woman of my age and from a village, she’s also blind. Her story revolves around how she deals with life and the situations that she’s put in. We shot in really difficult circumstances but had fun shooting it together. If there was no fun, the shooting would have become a daunting task for the team. It was a tough movie to shoot.”

With Joyland making it to Cannes Film Festival and receiving a 10 minute long standing ovation by the attendees, the cast and crew of the film have bought immense pride and honour to the country as it’s Pakistan’s first ever film to make it to the prestigious film festival. Sania Saeed who plays a pivotal role in the film shared her excitement about the project and shed some light over the story, not giving too much away since the movie hasn’t released in Pakistan yet. “Joyland being accepted at the Cannes Film Festival from Pakistan is a huge and progressive step. The narrative is different and modern, the story meets the international standards and strengthens the idea of working on the stories and the way they should be told.”

Being the seasoned acting prowess that she is, Sania was first and last seen in Manto in 2015. Which made me wonder why she doesn’t do films that often, Sania revealed:” To be completely honest I have never been offered a movie. Secondly, I really need to see and weigh the collective impact of the movie. It may not be a popular interest but I would like to do a film which forces one to think, even if you disagree with its story it still should have that power to move you. Television and theatre have always been my first love. For fun, I would always like to do a movie. In any project, acting itself is a lot of work but at the end of the day, it’s about the impact that’s made through the narrative. If I have not done a movie yet may be the actress inside me has not felt like doing a film yet. Not all actors are for all mediums. I am not fit probably, maybe I don’t fit in the big screen.”

She heavily relies on the trust factor among the team members and the comfort level too. Having said that she shared that the cast and crew of Joyland is also a part of that team. “I have been working with them for a very long time. I can trust them in terms of putting forward a strong narrative which is also my intent before I pick any character”

From the sets of Kamli, she seems to be fond of Saba Qamar and her brilliant range of acting: “Saba and I have been looking forward to working with each other for quite a long time. I don’t watch television too often, but if it’s Saba’s drama then I make it a point to watch it. I’ve seen the scope of her performance in Kamli and she is flawless. It’s always fun to work with a team that synergises with your performance, keep you on your toes, and Saba is all about it. Every day she behaves like a newcomer who is there to learn, to put all her heart and hard work into it and be spot on.”

Expanding on her relationship with Sarmad Khoosat, the director of the film, Sania said that they have been friends for years and she knows him very well. “In this movie, Sarmad is not present physically, but yet he is there in every frame. We have worked together so much and it’s only Sarmad who has pushed me to my limits, or maybe even beyond them. Even in Kamli, he made me do crazy and adventurous things that I wouldn’t have done otherwise, but he makes sure that it’s all safe in the end. He would perform the stunts and action sequences himself first and then ask us to perform just to make sure of the safety.”

Whoever becomes famous these days, becomes associated with a certain brand, however, Sania is not seen in commercials all that often. She explicated in complete modesty that her mind does not work from that angle. Her focus has always been theatre, acting and volunteer work.

“I am an ambassador of ACF, SIUT, TCF, Indus Hospital, I actually like and enjoy these things a lot. I believe in missions, things that make me happy and put my mind at peace. I physically go to ACF, play with dogs, clean donkeys and spend time with animals, I also do voice overs for ACF. For Kiran Foundation, Indus Hospital and SIUT, I do all the work they ask me to and I try to be there to help them as much as I can in my capacity.

This is also about personal aptitude for me. I am not someone who would promote beauty products, it will look very exploitative to me and to be honest, my mind is not convinced to do it.”

When asked about her take on doing more mature roles, even in the 90s, the starlet revealed, “I was 18 years old when I essayed the role of a mother of four in Aahat. We look at things from today’s perspective but for me I do what I find interesting. I think the characters that are being written for the younger lot are very monotonous and redundant. In our time, the type of characters written for us were so strong that age never mattered to me at all. For example, the character of Mehrunnisa was one-of-a-kind, even the series as a whole had such strong impacts such as Ao Kahani Buntay in which I did 16 get ups and 13 characters and a lot of my other characters will reflect my selection of characters.

In Sang e Marmar, I played Omair Rana’s mother, and no one can doubt his or my character portrayal because this is the way you put life to a character. If I am playing a character that is predictable or a role that the audience expects me to be, what fun is that? I get very interesting characters to play in dramas such as Raqeeb Se which is a love story involving people my age group and then there’s theatre too. We have recently concluded a play where I am playing the role of a wanderer.”

Have you ever denied any character?

“All the time!” she replied as I surprisingly looked at her and went on to ask “Really?” She said that it is not a joke to write a script. It is a very demanding job that takes about 26 hours to write a script. I read the whole script and then write my reasons of why I’m not inclined towards the script and explain it in detail. But I sometimes have to do a character because my friends convince me,” she adds as she chuckles.

Since many celebrities are opening salons, brands and collaborating for businesses, I asked Sania if she is planning to shift towards the entrepreneur side of things, maybe open a salon anytime soon? “Who would people want to come to my salon” She answers with self-effacement because she’s modest and down-to-earth. “Maybe I will open a school. I come from a background of education and my entire family has a teaching background.”

Sania Saeed was also seen in an episode of Asim Abbasi’s web-series called Churails where she murders and then goes on to cook her own husband on being gay. The episode went on to become one of the most loved and at the same time, grotesque, episodes of the series. Talking about her character Sania shared, “these acts are disturbing. I could do it with Sarmad because there is a trust factor between us.” The actress recalls a moment from her set when she was shooting for Aabis Raza and got panic attacks when she had to hit a child.

“The nihari scene was shot twice, and the team had to take me to Sarmad to show me that he is alive and okay. It was one of the most difficult tasks I had done.” She still gets shivers recalling the moment when she had to essay a role of a dead hearted woman in Churails who has no mercy for her husband and makes nihari out of his meat.

“This is a dangerous profession and challenging too.” We switch from this topic to her character in Noor Mahal as I could see Sania getting lost in her thoughts and dread.

“I thoroughly enjoyed playing the character of an oracle. It was kind of mystical and the woman floats around. She has curly hair, dark skin and blue eyes and no one knows where she has come from. I loved the heavy voice of the character and the way she talks. And of course, like I said Sarmad makes you do crazy stuff.”

Talking about the changes that we need in the industry she said that a lot needs to change within the industry to bring forward their A-game. “Foremost, the need of the audience has to be understood. We don’t work on the basis of research but numbers.” I asked her most of the producers produce the dramas that people want to watch otherwise what is being brought forth leaves you contemplating that the audience needs something extra-ordinary or out-of-the-box faces banning.

“I believe the whole banning process is false. It has to do with the general politics of the country and how the elements and fragments are being used to fuel the politics. There are two types of people working in our industry: the true story tellers and the commercial minds. There are millions of rupees that have gone into dumbing down the audience. They don’t have a basic education, no culture of debate, disagreement or multi-culturalism and when you have evacuated the basics from the country you have also transformed their mindsets and it has now come back to us in disastrous ways.”

Speaking about room for foreign projects, the actress said, “There is plenty of room for Pakistani actresses and actors to be in the ads. No foreign actor or actress is going to capture the market. They have appeared in one or maximum four ads. The trend of immediate reaction has been set by the social media.”

Speaking about her love for the theatre and it’s scope in the coming future, the artist commented, “It depends on the industry’s focus in the end. There are certain roles in which only Saleem Mairaj will fit, Paras will fit or Rashid will fit. It depends on the need of the character. Lets take my example, I am performing since decades and only my work speaks for myself. Alot of theatre actors are ruling hearts and TV screens such as Zahid Ahmed and Gohar Rasheed. If Paresh Rawal is not doing lead roles that does not mean he is not good enough to be in the lead, it is just the demand of the character.”

Sania Saeed is currently gracing our screens with Sang e Mah, and talking about the project as a whole she shared, “Working with Saif and Mustafa, it was easy for me. This is my team who see these different characters that they see in me. There were many youngsters in the dramas but they asked me to sit on the horse and essay this strong headed woman that Zarghuna is.”

Strong not only in her characters but also as a person, the entertainment industry sure hit a jackpot by discovering Sania Saeed.