Pakistani director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat is working on a theatre and TV show based on the life of Saadat Hassan Manto. He talks about his experience of directing dark and psychological drama and his love for Satyajit Ray and Kolkata
Tell us about your experience of visiting India.
India is like home to me. I have been to Delhi a few years ago and coming from lahore it seemed like home to me. I told my father that I wanted to go out of country for a trip and I chose India. I was disappointed to find so many similarities in both the countries. I come from a Punjabi family so I honestly didn’t feel like I was away from home during my time in Delhi. I met this old man who told me that I resemble his late son.
You may be aware of how Indian television industry works. Is it very different from the TV industry in PakistanIJ
Cinema is too dominant in India, TV on the other hand is more business driven. The soap operas in India are more financially viable than being creatively superior. Pakistani TV industry on the other hand, is a big deal since our film industry had sort of died. Our shows are shorter and made in a lesser span of time. The scale and the costumes in Indian shows take over Pakistani shows. Our shows are heavily built on performances and scripts.
Your storytelling is very different. Your show Humsafar may not have a different story but your approach towards it was very different.
Humsafar is a lot like Maine Pyaar Kiya because the stories are so similar. But execution wise I knew I had to do something different. I took inspiration from directors like Gulzar, Shahzad Khalil, Shoaib Mansoor and Sahira Kazmi. My execution style is more inclined towards films than TV, that’s precisely why when you’re doing a soap opera with 100 episodes or less, this approach automatically develops. For us when we make a serial with limited episodes, it’s like we are making a long movie.
As a director, what was that one thing that excited you about making the showIJ
None of us on the sets of Humsafar knew that we were working on something that will become so successful. It was like any other show when we began work on it. But for me, the story of Humsafar was very unreal and was something that I had never done before. Humsafar was very basic and it was all about adding texture to the story. I wanted to make a fairytale out of it, since it was all like a fantasy in my head. For a director, melodrama is something that is looked upon as derogatory but the cast and the crew of Humsafar was successful in overcoming that and we approached the show very sincerely. Farhat’s novel was full of drama. I never tried to improvise anything intentionally but it was something that happened naturally. For example there are scenes which are the highlight of the show like the one in which Mahira is wearing yellow. We were all wondering what exactly to do with that scene, that is when I asked Fawad to use the line ‘Tum zarde ki daig lag rahi ho.’ The process of making the show was organic and was clearly my best experience of making a drama. To be honest, Humsafar — the novel was for a select set of audience and so was the show. The show essentially banked on female viewership. The response we got was unexpected and a pleasant surprise. I haven’t read the novel myself because I did not want it to distort my vision of the show.
What according to you hit the chord with Humsafar, not just in Pakistan but also across several nationsIJ
The universality of emotions and the old school charm. Humsafar is very retro and that’s what connects with people. It is something like what Munna Bhai did to me and how I connected with it. The movie gives a strong message about how it is important to be good, irrespective of how it’s done. In the post millennium era, the narratives of shows have become complex and the TV and cinema is banking on showing great and grand picturesque scenes. Humsafar, somehow, took us back to the time when not a lot was happening.
What gave you the idea of doing HumsafarIJ
The idea of making Humsafar was initiated by Momina Durraid, the producer of the show who had bought the rights to Farhat Ishtiaq’s novel in Urdu of the same name. Momina was very excited to do this show. When I read the script, it was very different from the kind of work that I was doing.
The fantasy like feel to the story that Humsafar has is something that I had never dealt with before. I was involved in making dark and psychological drama for TV so Humsafar for me was like an exciting challenge because of the basic and old school charm to it. Humsafar is not at all gimmicky and has a feel of simplicity to it.
How was the experience working with Fawad and MahiraIJ
It was fantastic. I sort of knew Fawad because we practically started our careers at the same time. Humsafar, for me, was a fresh change and shooting with two beautiful people like Fawad and Mahira was amazing. There was freshness on the sets.
What is your take on Fawad and Mahira’s onscreen chemistryIJ
Honestly, Fawad and Mahira are very strange actors. If I said that I saw the chemistry on the sets, I’d be lying. I never expected it to look so good. Fawad is a calculated actor, while Mahira is a method actor. It was an interesting combination because usually method and type do not go very well with each other. Mahira would always do something different in every scene, while Fawad would calculate what he wants to do and perfect it. The chemistry came out of their good hearts and the dedication towards their characters.
Would you like to make a movie with Fawad and MahiraIJ
Things were different three years ago and people have moved on since then. I would love to make a movie with Mahira for sure. To have Fawad and Mahira together is expecting too much. I did a show with Fawad and I did a show with Mahira also. So, as of now, I really don’t have anything in mind.
What do you have to say about Fawad’s success in IndiaIJ
I am very happy for him. Fawad is a brilliant actor and he deserves all the success. I saw Khoobsurat and I think Fawad looks very good in it.
You are also an actor, what do enjoy the most — acting or directingIJ
Directing is a very difficult task. I am a huge fan of Satyajit Ray and his work. I have watched his movies and I draw inspiration from him. So, I think acting doesn’t satisfy me as much as direction. I love Kolkata; I want to make a movie with a backdrop of the city. In fact I have even remade Chokher Bali.
Indian TV shows have become very bold in terms showing explicit content, is this the case with Pakistani television tooIJ
Pakistani TV industry in the 1980s was very strict, actors playing husband and wife in the serial could not be even shown lying in the same bed. But things are changing now for good. I believe mainstream television should avoid any explicit content to retain the charm of the story and exclude any scope of unwanted diversions.
A lot of Pakistani actors have been migrating to the Indian entertainment industry. Some feel that Indian stars should be given priority. What is your take on thisIJ
It is 65 years of learning that we need to unlearn. The cultural divide is almost non-existent. Indian film and TV industry is definitely a bigger one and there’s a notion that one who wants to be a bigger star needs to hop to the Indian entertainment industry. On the plus side, Indians are loving Pakistani actors and our shows. The whole rigidity about not exchanging talent is preposterous. India and Iraq should collaborate and we should also collaborate with European talent.
Tell us about your future projects.
We are currently working on a biopic of Saadat Hassan Manto, a short story writer who started working in Bombay and later migrated to Pakistan. This is a dual project we have a theatrical version as well as a TV version of 20 episodes.