Rashid Farooqui, a popular actor of Pakistan's film and TV industry, says that if Pakistani cinema does not develop, it is because the Pakistani directors and filmmakers are not able to make films of the quality of the people here. stay
Rashid has so far acted in five Pakistani feature films and two short films in his career, while he will soon be seen in Fawad Khan's upcoming film Nilufar along with short film Beauty Boxed.
Rashid Farooqui played the role of Inspector Ibrahim in the movie 'Lal Kabotar' released in the year 2019 and it is probably the only film of Pakistan which was made on a very low budget but the audience loved it immensely. It was because of the popularity of this film that it was sent for Oscar nomination from Pakistan.
I wanted to know from him whether the fans in Pakistan want to watch films made on serious topics, and his answer was that they want to watch when a film like 'Lal Kabotar' was a hit.
It is very important to make films like Red Dove. It is not that these are great films, but they are films that will lead to great films. It is a process. Despite the low budget, its making was modern. His music and editing were modern. Not immediately, but after some time of effort, you will be able to make a good and quality film that will be liked by the people here.'
'Nilufer' and 'Beauty Boxed'
Rashid Farooqui, who has been absent from the screen for a long time, says that he was going through some health problems due to which he could not work for some time, but he said that he is working and will be back soon. A lot will appear on the screen.
However, on the small screen, we saw him recently in a small role of Peer in the popular drama serial 'Tere Bin'.
It is a small role but I am talking big. I am working. Without work I cannot survive. I get suffocated if I don't work for a while. Very soon I will be so visible on the screen that you will see.
Rashid Farooqui said that he will also be seen playing a role in Mahira Khan and Fawad Khan's film 'Niloofar', which is likely to release this year. Fawad Khan himself has produced this film and Rashid Farooqui was invited from Karachi for a role in this film made in Lahore.
He had to do something important, then he called me from Karachi for a film made in Lahore. It is also not a commercial film. It is also a serious film based on reality in which I heard that Mahira Khan is playing the role of a blind girl.
Rashid Farooqui recently shared the poster of the movie 'Beauty Boxed' on his Instagram. This short film is made by some students of Bahria University which will be released soon.
Talking about his role in this film, he said that there are only two or three roles in this film. A male and a female. The female character is much younger than Mel and is married. Can't say too much but he is not a good guy, violent guy, basically his character is not right. He works somewhere in the railways and he is torturing his wife.
Ram Chand Pakistani: 'The local industry has accepted that you are an actor'
Director Mehreen Jabbar's film 'Ram Chand Pakistani' is the work of Rashid Farooqui's career which gave him recognition as an actor. In the 2008 film, he played the role of a Thar resident who follows his teenage son across the border to India and is arrested and spends a long time in jail.
He told an interesting incident from the sets of Ram Chand Pakistani that 'In the beginning of the film, I am plowing a field. So it happened that the ox with which I had to plow was not familiar to me. I had no idea that I would have to drive a bull. If I would go near him, he would stand stiffly. So the owner of that ox became angry and asked to remove him, he does not know how to drive an ox, put me in his place. I will do this role.
According to Rashid Farooqui, he has an emotional attachment to Ram Chand Pakistani. Recalling that time, he said that he got the reward of his hard work for this film in the form of international awards. He smiled and said that 'it (the film) got a lot of promotion and since then the local industry here has recognized that you are an actor.'
Popular Indian actress Nandita Das worked opposite Rashid Farooqui in Ram Chand Pakistani, praising whom he said, 'I can describe her work and personality in one word and that is extremely professional. Although we could not provide them full facilities according to their protocol but still they did not say a word. She did her work and left.
Rashid Farooqui says that he worked hard to lose weight for this film.
People in Thar are generally not fat. When I was offered the role, I was overweight, so I had to lose a lot of fat. I thought a lot about what happens that they (Thar people) lose weight. It occurred to me that there is no riding there.
It is a desert, we walk for miles and there is not much food. In the name of food, pickles and roti or onion and roti or if there is much groundnut, groundnut dal grows there, then groundnut dal and roti. There is food and a lot of walking. So I also halved my diet and increased my walks. It increased so much that every morning I used to walk from my house in Golestan Johar to Sadar. That is, some eight to ten kilometers went on foot and came back. So obviously my weight started falling.
"If the market is working, there will be no market work"
Rashid Farooqui works in films but his unique roles are in Ghar Ghar drama series. Talking about the lack of diversity in male roles in dramas, he said that 'now the producer is not working, now the marketing is working. If I say marketing in Urdu, the market is working. If the market is working, then the market will be working, right?
There is not much margin for actors. They are said to have this kind of character, there are stereotype characters, they have the same kind of casting that, man, this guy will be right in this one, he was so good in that one too, keep him. But the situation is not all bleak. Beech Beech definitely has a job that gives ample opportunity to showcase your art. But those opportunities are rare.
But will Pakistani dramas ever come out of the cycle of ratings and mother-in-law stories? Rashid Farooqui is hopeful that this series will finally end.
"I don't know how far the rating cycle will go and how far it will last," he says. However, mother-in-law will be a trend change. No trend lasts long. Now another drama of a different kind will come, then the trend will go like that.
There are two types of things in every society. There are marketable goods and non-marketable goods. That's how it will go. You can do anything. If you say yes, now that our entire industry consists of very serious people and serious work is being done, it will not happen. If there is a market, there will be market work and if there is art, there will also be artistic work.
"I didn't earn money"
Rashid Farooqui started his career in theater in 1991 and then did numerous plays and many films. He says that he was not interested in acting since childhood, he was doing a government job as a clerk and got into the profession by accident and never did anything else.
He says that his parents were surprised that he wanted to pursue acting as a regular profession. In the words of Rashid Farooqui, "My mother also said that he is not crazy." It also happens that someone eats from acting! I said I will eat.
With time, people realized that one can earn money by being in this profession. But Rashid Farooqui says that his wife is not impressed by his work. He says that 'no begum will say in front of her husband, 'Wow, what a man you are, you are great, but inside she will be proud.'
He said that I did not earn money. I am not very interested in money. I only want as much money as I need. So obviously I would not have been able to build a very nice and very big house. Or I will not be able to meet many needs in time. He must have suffered a lot from me.
The reception received by fans in the nineties
Rashid Farooqui said that "I had done only one drama which made me popular." My wife did not know who this person was. We went to Swat for honeymoon. There was a college bus in which the students had come for a picnic.
The reception received by fans in the nineties:
Rashid Farooqui said that "I had done only one drama which made me popular." My wife did not know who this person was. We went to Swat for honeymoon. There was a college bus in which the students had come for a picnic.
At that time, selfies were not in vogue. There were no phones. They took autographs, stood and talked. Then we were eating in a hotel when a man from another table sent us two mangoes. I thanked him and he said that we see you on TV, so we said hello to you. So at that time I was very happy. In front of his wife, it became a bit wider that we are also something.
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