C H I T C HAT
A Meeting with geourgeous
Mehwish Hayat
Y
ou may remember her as the very pretty Priya
from Shah Sharabeel’s Bombay Dreams or those
whose hearts lie in serious theatre may remember her in Javed Siddiqui’s Aapki Soniya, a sequel to
the iconic Tumhari Amrita in which she appeared opposite Sajid Hasan. Mehwish Hayat may have made an
impression in Manjali, a TV serial that established her
as a serious actress but it was the foot-tapping ‘Billi’ in
Na Maloom Afraad that planted her firmly on the silver
screen, in the welcoming arms
of fame. Jawani Phir Nahi Ani
propelled her to stardom and
with everything from theatre,
television, music and film under
her belt she has become the
most bankable starlet in Pakistan’s entertainment industry
today. Smart, sexy and undeniably talented, who is the real
Mehwish Hayat, I wondered as
I set out to meet her for the first
time.
We first met on the set of a
Sana Safinaz shoot where Mehwish had effortlessly stepped
into the avatar of fashion model. She looked stunning as the
make up transformed her generously wide smile into a sultry
pout. Her eyes, twinkling with
laughter as she spoke, took on
an intensely brooding gaze as
she looked into the camera and
posed. Our meeting was brief,
as not to disturb the shoot underway, and we scheduled a
date to meet at her new home
in Karachi the next day.
A nine-inch big, tiny mouse of a dog is hardly what I
expect as I walk into her guarded gate in DHA, but the
welcome is both warm and noisy as Mehwish’s overprotective Chihuahua yelps with the delusion of believing
he’s a German Shepherd. He is quickly shooed away as
a smartly dressed Mehwish in denim and boots rushes
out with that warm smile that is now part of her persona.
She carries that smile with restless energy that can only
be characteristic of youth. She is 25, she clarifies, and
not 32 as Wikipedia has been misquoting. We settl B