Mahira Khan About Shehr-e-Zaat
"My fellow soul searchers,
It has ended finally, it takes with it a piece of my heart and leaves me with a bit of it's soul..
I don't know how to begin really, but I guess its best to start from where it all started. I got lots of scripts after Humsafar and nothing was hitting home. I remember sitting in Momina's office and as usual picking her brain, being indecisive. She said there is this one script, its about a girl who sets on a journey to find herself. I said I would like to be a part of that. She's like "yes, i'd like to produce it". (at that time the script was with 7th sky, so still undecided which channel will be taking it)!
Conversation ended and we moved on. A month later or so I get a call from 7th sky asking me if i was interested in this play called "Shehr e Zaat" – told me the story etc.. Sarmad was directing, thats all I knew. Eventually Momina also came on as producer.
So I get the 1st draft of the script and I read it – it frightened me! Not because i didn't enjoy the story but because I felt I wasn't ready to handle this. But I was looking for a challenge, so I was confused. Every page had Falak dialogues, every scene had Falak in it. There were so many discussions.. even got to meet Umera Ahmed in the process. We had a great chat over chai and gol guppas I asked her all kinds of questions, I told her to change the ending… she insisted that Falak wasn't the old Falak, that she saw herself in Salman now (I didn't understand it then). I remember asking Umera if I had to choose between Kankar (great script!) or Shehr e zaat what should I pick? She laughed and said to me " Your'e asking me to pick between God and something else?"
I got my answer.
And so the shoot began and it has to the hardest shoot ever (not thats i've had too many) – no New York freezing temperature or Mirpur Khas boiling heat can be compared to this shoot. Understanding Falak was hard, I took it upon myself to play her ignorant rather than mean/arrogant. Discussions on set about every scene became the norm. Be it Hina, Samina Peerzada or Sarmad we were constantly debating scenes, everyone had their own take on religion, on spirituality.. on zaat.
I will forever be grateful to Momina and Umera for convincing me to do this and believing in me to take up this challenge.
The Actors! The Crew! All of them went through the drill and gave it their all. (Special mention – Mohib Mirza..some of our scenes were so nicely written and it was so enjoyable shooting them).
For me this serial was about the nani, ama and beti.
There is so much to be said about our senior (not so senior) actors. I wish you could all be on set to see how disciplined they are, how organized, how punctual and how they love what they do.
Hina Bayat, what a great time we had shooting together! We bounced off each other's energy. I learnt so so much from her (wish I could learn how to organize my continuity clothes like her, guys thats a treat to see!).She was the perfect Mummy!
(Yes, time and again when i'd say Mummy we'd go into "Mummy aap kya keh rahi hein?")
Falak was nothing without nani. Shehr e Zaat is nothing without nani. And nani without Samina Peerzada? Well, you know what i mean.
What an actor! She and I connected instantly. I'd feel every line of every scene with her. She has to be one of the most giving actors. She gives and gives and gives. If an actor could direct another actor with in a scene, it happened with Samina Peerzada directing me in scenes ( without saying anything). She taught me so much about acting without teaching me. My most favorite scene(s) are with her.
All of this talk, every word becomes null and void without my director. He asked me to trust him and I did… I didn't know I was in for a joy ride. Be it the shower scene, the mirror scene, the jhoola scene, the makli ruins, the keechar waala scene etc…he would tell me lets do it like this and I would say ok lets (and tried to give it my all). He made a little bit of an actor out of me in Humsafar and a little bit more in Shehr e zaat.
SZ, thank you for being so kind with your words.. but even more for understanding the essence of Shehr e Zaat. You gave a whole new dimension to this story, even for me and I was living it. We are all humbled by the response. And please don't write so eloquently, it is not fair on us lesser mortals to keep checking our apostrophes and spellings just because its SZ's blog!
Thank you, all of you who watched. Thank you for watching it with an open heart and embracing what you saw. Thank you for debating, liking, disliking,hating,loving etc … thank you. Sorry if ever I did not live up to your expectations, I will continue to work harder.
In Umera Ahmed's words – Dil ajeeb shai hai naani,
Ajeeb cheezein maangta hai,
Ajeeb cheezein karney ko kehta hai..
She had us all at the first line…
All my love,
Mahira Khan"
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