Few years ago, when Shahzad Gul’s magnum opus “Tere Piyaar Mein” was released, it rewrote the celluloid history. It smashed every record in the book with its mind boggling success at the box office and catapulted the model-turned-actress Zara Sheikh straight to the top and today she is firmly entrenched there. Unlike her contemporaries she didn’t venture into a signing spree and planned her career quite professionally, making herself available for quality and roles offering substance. Today she is a force to reckon with and a name which defines success. In her exclusive tête-à-tête with Social Pages the actress unfolds the many hidden facets of her personality, that I’m sure her fans are unaware of.
Claw-for-claw rivalry with contemporaries is quite common in showbiz and every actress in your league claims to be number one. So where do you place yourself among these ratings?
Besides slinging a lot of verbal abuse, I have also seen actresses involved in intense war over nothing serious. I’m quite fed up of denying repeatedly that I seriously don’t believe in the numbers game. I want to consolidate my position with my performance and not by indulging in media gossip. I keep comparing myself with my past work and make sure that the deficiencies left earlier are not repeated in my next projects. My race is with myself.
This is obviously very tough, so how do you survive because people don’t let you go the way you intend to?
Look, we are living in a very catty industry where even a minute thing and an infinitesimal incident is blown out of proportion. I therefore, keep myself to my work and never poke my nose in matters which are not related to me or my work. I think this is how I have maintained my survival in this era of cut throat competition.
Zara, why are you selective? I wonder how could an artiste afford to be so choosy in such a small industry?
From the first day when I entered the industry I have refrained from accepting roles where the heroines are used for songs only. Meaty roles offering substance have always qualified as my foremost choice. “Tere Piyaar Mein”, “Chalo Ishq Larain”, “Laaj” and “Salakhain” are best examples in support of the fact that I have always played diversified roles. I literally refuse all those films which showcase heroines for the sake of mere glamour, no matter how hefty a sum of money I’m offered.
But this is something very rare. Should a heroine facing the challenge of a very thin shelf life, do that?
Well, for me my public image is the most important thing and all other things come later. They have always accepted me as a performer and they expect something worthy from me. Therefore I cannot afford to disappoint them by accepting filler kind of roles. I am not ensnared by the quantity but quality has always attracted me.
All the roles you have performed so far carry different shades. What was the most challenging for you?
Although my role in “Laaj” was a challenging one and the project was really prestigious and worth doing, but as far as the role I have personally enjoyed doing was the one I performed in Shahzad Gul “Chalo Ishq Larain”. It had two entirely different shades. In the first half of the film I portrayed the role of a very typical next door girl. But in the second half I had to transform into a very western sort of a glamorous girl.
You seem to be least interested in working for the tube. Why?
Be it fashion, modeling or television but the aura and the stardom which films stars enjoy is unquestionable and without a shred of doubt. After attaining whatever I possibly could from the fashion industry I became a part of the film industry and today I have no qualms in telling you that whichever film is being made, the offer first comes to me. I’m fortunate that I’m being considered for roles where the requirement is about delivering performance. I think that is a win for my fans who have always supported me. But I don’t have any issues about working for television and I have recently completed a telefilm but the big screen has always been my first penchant.
The present state of our once thriving industry raises many questions. Who do you think is responsible?
I am from the industry and whatever name I have earned and whatever position I hold is because of the industry. I really feel bad to see the industry not being given the kind of esteem it deserves. I have never been able to fathom the reason as to why everybody feels it mandatory to treat our film stars as a laughing stock. Instead of contributing anything substantial they just say all the nonsense they possibly can. If anything has spoiled the industry it’s a combination of factors like nepotism, groupism, leg pulling and unjust criticism. It has literally finished the industry. Unfortunately the kind of resistance that I show for the bad projects, other artistes don’t have any qualms in accepting these. This is what encourages the bad trends.
But today it looks as if Zara Sheikh is no more. Isn’t your selectiveness expatriating you to an isolated island?
Well Asif. Tell me, are there any films coming up? Perhaps you are not aware but it’s true that we have reduced to an alarming state of four and five films a year. “tu jab filmz hi nahi ban rahien tu maray kam kaam kernay ka tu sawal hi nahi paida hota” . But out of those few films I manage to get one or two, whichever is sound enough to go ahead with.
Do you consider co-productions with the Indians as a good gesture?
I am in favor of the co-productions provided our artistes get an equal share. There are many precedents in the past wherein our artistes were cheated in India. The recent example is of Moamer Rana. He is such a big star of our industry and his role was miserably chopped in the film he did in India reducing it to one scene and a song. Fortunately our people are now aware of the situation and they don’t accept anything unless it is scrutinized.
Tell us about your new projects you associate your good hopes with?
Recently I have completed the shooting of a telefilm directed by Iqbal Kashmiri. Meera is also appearing in a strong character and I hope it would turn out to be really worth watching. I have been offered the main lead in Shahzad Rafiq’s upcoming Punjabi film, but as I’m not comfortable with Punjabi, doing all those steamy rainy songs and typical lacha kurta dances I refused it, as neither I’m mentally prepared for it nor would my fans expect me doing all that. The next in the pipeline is Javed Raza’s “Kabhi Pyar Na Kerna” with Momy and Shamyal Khan as my co-stars. It s a long kind of a triangle story and the director is really working hard to make it presentable.
If you are offered Nazar part -2 by Mahesh Bhatt would you agree to do that?
Mahesh is a good very good director and I wouldn’t mind working with him provided I get a good role, the kind Rani Mukherjee performed in Veer Zara, etc. The prerequisites for acceptance of roles that I maintained here would be applicable there as well.
You have sung a few songs too. Are you planning to release an album?
I love singing ——- I love music and I have got a very good response from the people for the song I sang for “Chalo Ishq Larain”, “akayla mujhay chor ka chala hai kanhan”. I’m working on my album but I feel that the way the viewership of our channels has drastically declined, our music has also lost its following. Viewers seem confused today as they don’t know what to watch and what to listen to. But whenev
