“Censorship hinders us to work on many ideas” Amar Khan

The actress touches on the impact censorship has on her creative process
Ghughi, Belapur Ki Dayan, Dum Mastam, Baddua,

Amar Khan has made a unique place for herself in the entertainment industry and it all started off by doing offbeat roles at the start of her career. Playing an abducted Hindu girl in Amrita Pritam’s adaptation drama serial ‘Ghughi‘ or a ghost in Hum TV’s production ‘Belapur Ki Dayan’, Amar was noted for her acting skills by ace producers and directors of the industry. Just after five years of setting foot into the industry, Amar had not only written a full-length feature film but also got a chance of doing the lead role in it. Her film Dum Mastam released on Eid-ul-Fitr and was much celebrated in Pakistan and abroad.

Talking to her, one can easily spot the happiness and satisfaction on her face and in her voice, which confirms that she is still enjoying the success of her first big screen project both as an actor and a writer. Amar believes Dum Mastam was a full package with everything from romance, dance, music to an emotional journey and dramatic conflicts.

Why she preferred to play a very typical sub-continental heroine in her first film while known for doing many offbeat roles in dramas, Amar replied that she believed that our cinema needed this type of content. “Moreover, as we came closer to the festive season of Eid, it was necessary to entertain the public with conventional yet commercial love stories.”

Expanding on her passion for writing, Amar has a very interesting story to tell. “Actually I always wanted to be an actor to follow the footsteps of my mother, who is also an artist but I wanted to get professional education in that discipline. In Pakistan, there was no degree course in acting alone but there was one in filmmaking. So during my studies, some teachers recognised the power of the pen in me and urged me to use it.”

She confessed that though she already had a passion for writing and ideas came naturally to her, she still could never realise the power of this hidden talent inside her which could be another strength until her teachers helped in refining and polishing it. “So, writing was my extracurricular activity in university that remained attached with me and became my profession too,” she added. “Then, I started writing regularly and in my final semester of university, I wrote the first draft of Dum Mastam, which finally came to life last eid.”

She then went on to clarify that all the characters she’d written had some traits of her own emotional journey and personal experiences of life in some way but she never demanded the lead character of Alia Butt.

“It happened when I narrated this two-and-a-half-hour script to Muhammad Ehteshamuddin, who is considered one of the finest and most honest storytellers in filmmaking in Pakistan, and he offered me the role before I asked him anything. Actually, I dreamed of playing Alia as she was somewhere dwelling inside me. He was convinced that I was falling in the role rightly with respect to the age bracket, dance performances and my Punjabi background, which could really help in delivering dialogues in the accent needed.”

She thanks both Ehteshamuddin and Adnan Siddiqi for opting her as an actress in Dum Mastam.

So what was actually behind her mind when she wrote Dum Mastam? Amar said, she actually tried to relive Pakistani culture in its true sense, which also represented her roots attached to it.

“My maternal side is from the old city of Lahore. So a major chunk of my life was spent in those alleys, where people decorate mountains during Eid-milad-un-Nabi, markets and streets are full of flags, buntings and national anthems on Independence Day and people celebrate these events by pooling in money from the whole neighbourhood.”

Another skill that Amar trained for professionally as a part of her film studies course is dance, which translates very well on screen when you see her perform.

“I got classes of Bharatanatyam for two months from India when I was studying in Film school, which of course helped me in doing the role of an aspiring dancer and performer in Dum Mastam.”

Amar added that in Dum Mastam, though she performed different forms of dance from a kathak number to a Madam Noor Jahan song, and to a filmy dance number to a Madonna pop track but she was most blissed on doing the aerial act in the film, which was the very first time by any actress in Pakistan.

“I took special training for that contemporary style of the aerial act that is hanging in air through the rigging. It is a very technical craft.”

Amar also gave her two cents on bombarding the screens with five films at a time, when cinemas were reopened on Eid after three years.

“I think there was no harm in it. All over the world, films clash during festive seasons like Eid, Diwali or Christmas. But yes, filmmakers who are sure that their product is not very festive content-wise; it is sincere advice for them to release their films on regular days. I believe that a film which is made with the thought of Eid festivities in mind, why not let it pull the footfall of the public towards cinemas. I believe Dum Mastam was an Eid ingredients masala film.”

Dum Mastam means a lot to Amar, as the film took almost 6 years of her life to complete. The Baddua star also wanted to reply to those, who often ask her how being relatively new in the industry, she made her first film in the early years of her career, with a big banner, “I think besides talent,  your luck also counts but most importantly your will power and determination works the most to achieve your dream. To be honest, my utmost priority was never to make a lot of money or buy expensive luxury cars but to make Dum Mastam for the big screen.”

After the film Amar is ready to come back on television, which she considers a platform to play with different types of characters. On choosing her roles on the small screen, Amar prefers those in which she has to devoice her own personality, whether they are positive, negative or have grey shades.

“I love to do characters for which I need to work harder, have sleepless nights thinking just about how I can make that role different from my previous roles with respect to looks and overall mannerism. Any character which gives me that challenging tweak, I always opt for it.”

As she sees the future of our entertainment industry as she has a long way to go, Amar believes that both television and films are our progressive potential mediums so no matter how much run of the mill stories we show via them, they would ultimately grow with the pace of the rest of the world.

“Other countries are working on very interesting and abstract ideas folding in a commercial packaging to make it digestible for the public. They even present their serious issues of society in a wrapping that it becomes a mass entertainer. I hope in the coming years, we also work with that kind of ability and will compete.”

About the new medium of web, Amar is not so hopeful about its relevance in countries like Pakistan where there is heavy censorship on content from the state and the public as well. That is why she really doubts whether the digital media would progress that way in our society as it is being evolved all over the world.

“Digital medium was and is all about freedom. I don’t know how much of it we have here which we observe being given in other countries. They are very independent in their content and discuss everything from religion to politics and from public to historical figures. Their sarcasm is sometimes really harsh and open. I think our society would not allow us to do that.”

Why does she take public censorship a serious issue in Pakistan? The actress repliedWe are judged and scrutinised severely on social media from what we wear or talk to how we sit or walk. It leads to so much negative criticism, trolling and hate speech. Everybody has their engines always ignited in our society”.

One thing, which Amar is hopeful about, is her passion for working in media as its effective part, which she believes would help her move forward whether it is acting or writing.