Junaid can!

In a candid conversation with BOLD, Junaid Khan talks about his bittersweat journey in the showbiz world, his music band ‘Call’, his film ‘Kahay Dil Jidhar,’ and lots more

A soothing and soulful voice struck to my ears when I chanced upon listening to ‘Sub Bhula Kay,’ a beautiful song by Junaid Khan from his music album ‘Jilawatan.’ He first came into limelight from his music band ‘Call,’ and since then there is no turning back as Junaid Khan is now one of the leading names in Pakistan showbiz industry, both in the realms of music and acting. Despite being one of the leading actors of Pakistan, he is extremely down-to-earth and easy-going. This week Junaid Khan talks with BOLD about his arduous journey from a leading vocalist of a music band to becoming the well-known TV and film actor.

An introvert young fellow from head to toe, Junaid was desperately looking for the right medium to express himself and unleash his latent creativity. As Carl Gustav Jung, one of the world’s renowned psychiatrists and psychonalysts, has explained that no one is 100 per cent introvert or 100 per cent extrovert. This has exactly been the case with Junaid as well. Now you might think how an introvert can get into acting or music? So Junaid has the answer, “A few of you may know that I started my career with music, but that was actually my preferred outlet to express my emotions and let out my pent-up feelings. Though it took quite some time to realise the fact that I am basically an introvert person since whenever I tried I always found it difficult to express myself, finally I took refuge in music as it gave me a direction as well as a platform to speak my heart out.”

“My musical journey started in the year 2000 when I was in Lahore and I would go and watch the underground bands perform live. I was really inspired by their performance, replete with madness and passion for music. Before that, I would often listen to Junoon band. As said earlier, being an introvert by nature I was seeking a tool to express myself. My tenant used to play guitar and one day he asked me to sing a song while he played guitar. I really enjoyed singing and to hone my singing skills, I started listening to more music, both Western and Indian. My tenant then introduced me to rock music as well.”

Junaid’s love for music started growing each day and the moment came when he moved from listening to music to actually jamming in his home. “I had an old computer, along with a pair of small, ordinary speakers in my bedroom. I would play the music with full volume and madly jam and sing along with it.”

“I navigated my way through music since it was the safest and the most satisfying way to let my inner self express my held-back emotions. After jamming I would feel light, relaxed and happy at the end of the day.”

The Hum Tum actor said that he found the actual direction and knew by then that music is his cup of tea. He would regularly go to Junoon’s concerts and other rock bands performing live, which encouraged him to take a second step which was towards live performance. “I was merely singing and playing music in my own bubble and most of the time I was working to overcome my weaknesses and trying to get better. The decision to perform live was spontaneous and then I decided to go on the stage.”

“In the beginning, it was quite a frightening experience but as time went by, I arrived at conclusion that was what I wanted to do and thus I decided to choose music as my career. At that time, there were a number of music channels in Pakistan, however, I was not running after attracting more followers or grabbing an increasing number of views for the sake of fugitive fame as for me music has only been the passion, my raison d’etre.”

Junaid recalled that music became such a passion for him that he started investing himself in singing.

“I with all my friends, including Usman and Farooq, would sit, jam and sing together, and we soon started singing at big gatherings, mainly comprising friends and loved ones. A lot of people heard me singing and some of them invited me to form a band and make music videos with them. Honestly speaking, I was more inclined towards rock music and wanted to perform on the stage rather than opting for music videos straightaway.

As they say ‘what you seek is seeking you’, so there was already a band called ‘Call’ who were looking for a lead vocalist. “They found me the perfect fit for that leading position. But it wasn’t that easy as they first asked me to listen to their music, prepare myself and then come for the audition.

I listened to their songs and found them the typical 70s and 80s classical wrap and that was not to my taste.” Despite being an introvert, Junaid never hasitated when it came to music. Although it was his first audition and the band wanted him to sing their music but he sang what he liked. “I sang what I was good at and they liked it. Moreover, they decided to give their music a different direction this time. We didn’t have a guitarist so I brought my two friends with whom I would jam often. From there we took it forward.”

“I performed live in Queen’s Marry College Lahore and that too in front of girls (I was very confused but I did it). From there was no looking back. The first song was Nishan and it was released on Indus Music channel. People received it warmly and that gave a boost to our music production as well. We launched a music album.”

Members changed but the band sustained; Zulfi joined our band so Sultan, Zulfi and I were now the permanent members of Call. Instantly we became the talk of the town and the band met many successes and international recognition.

Answering a question, Junaid told BOLD that his decision of stepping into acting was an intentional and methodical decision. “I already had an established music career, the band was in full swing, however it saw the highs and lows as well. I was doing a 9 to 5 job in a company and during that time, I was getting a lot of offers for acting, especially from a specific private channel. I was in Lahore, and I had to shift to Karachi if I wanted to act since the production house was in Karachi. I had to leave my job and shift with my whole family. I gave it a thought and then decided to shift from Lahore to Karachi. I wanted to explore this side as well and wanted to take a risk. I did two projects in Lahore under Jawad Bashir’s direction so the channel had an idea of my acting competence.”

“Mujhay Rothnay Na Daina in which Komal Rizvi was making her come back and Abis Raza was the director. I started getting back-to-back offers from the same channel and I held my ground on acting. It was a good chance for me to grow as an actor.” Junaid Khan made his feature film debut with Kahay Dil Jidhar. The movie was neither much talked about nor got enough attention, Junaid shared that why he chose to specifically sign up for this movie and what expectations he had. “As far as the movies are concerned, I wanted to do a meaningful and substantial character, something different and not monotonous that was not there in other scripts I was getting offers of. Then Jalal and Kamran were from music fraternity and they knew me already so it was an offer I couldn’t reject because, one, I knew the director and producer, two, the role that was offered to me was worth considering. This film was a mixed plate; comedy, romance, action, etc. I wanted to challenge myself and this is how one grows.”

The movie had talked about politics and corruption, these are such topics which are often brushed under the carpet. However,  the film badly failed at the box office, Junaid gives his two cents. “Kahay Dil Jidhar was shot in 2018 and then COVID hit the world. After covid, the dynamics of cinema changed; Netflix and amazon came. It had to take a lot of effort to call people to the cinema. Marvel and DC movies were only available and people weren’t investing in Pakistani movies.” During this conversation, the actor agreed that there were loop holes in the marketing strategy. “Our mistake was our early decision of releasing the movie right after COVID. We should have taken more time or wait for the situation to get better or COVID’S scare to subside. However, people came to cinema but to watch Spiderman, not Kahay Dil Jidhar.”

“Cinema owners got money hungry since they beard loss past two years due to COVID. So when they saw people coming for Spiderman, they removed our movie and gave all shows to Spiderman. KDJ could not even get the fill over or slots because of this mismanagement. Except for what matters after story, acting, we even could not get that.”

Drama industry is such a huge industry that we don’t have much movie stars because many of the actors have jumped from dramas to movies. Same is for the directors therefore most of the movies look like drama serials as they are shot by drama directors and acted by drama actors. No matter Junaid’s movie could not stay at the box office or much talked about, but whoever has watched his movie must say that Junaid acted like a true movie star. “It heavily depends on how a director is directing a movie. Why most of the movies look like a drama is because even if a drama director is shooting a film, his perspectives, lenses and thinking is still of a drama director. Cinema frame and acting method of a film is different and this is what the director needs to look after.”

He said that if he could ever make a difference in acting on TV or cinema is because he is inspired by cinema and theater. “This is God-gifted and I was always aiming to work on a bigger screen, take up challenging roles, and substantial characters thus my true passion came through on the big screen.”

From 2011 up to now Junaid has never been in the news for the wrong reasons. The actor laughed at the question and thanked God for being out of the news for the wrong reasons. “I thank God that I am not a part of any controversy. I am not interested in unnecessary propaganda. I think I am from that generation of the actors who were never interested in controversies. Now there is a pressure on actors to be in the news for whatever reason. The trend of being viral is a big game and most of the actors try to be relevant.”

Yeh Mera Deewanapan Hai actor believes that his work is to act, evolve as an actor and entertain people through singing and acting which is his passion also. “My time was simple and actors from my age were focused on acting only since there was no game of followers, likes and trending. I still don’t see a need of getting involved in any controversy just to icrease my followers or likes on a post.”

”I never thought of becoming a popular singer or acting. I wanted to explore different avenues. My goal was never stardom, wishing for one is not a bad thing but my goal was never that. Each character has a touch to it and I wanted to feel that. You can say that opting characters meant living those life for once which I just enjoyed. I also never regretted leaving any scripts or doing any characters thus I never felt like a failure or achiever. I am following all my passion rigorously; acting, singing, cricket.” The actor optimistically replied.

Social media has completely changed the game and Junaid sees it as a positive thing, something to learn and improve from. Junaid Khan is among a few actors whose world revolves around his passion only. He is not only recognised among people because of his songs, but acting has won him recognition and respect. He proved his mettle and continues to do so.