C OVER STORY
“Our scriptwriters need to
understand that even an evil
character won’t be evil in
entirety : Ayesha Khan
P
akistan’s drama series have been the backbone of
our entertainment industry since our country managed to find its bearings post partition. After our
film industry gradually lost steam, the masses turned to
their television screens as their only outlet for entertainment. It is no surprise then that some of our biggest celebrities right now are not movie but rather TV stars and
there’s perhaps none who is more talked about currently, for a character she is portraying, than Aisha Khan.
Taking on one of the titular characters in hit serial Mann
Mayal, Khan has impressed audiences with her portrayal of Jeena and is one of the hottest commodities currently onscreen. We catch
up with the in-demand
star for a quick tete-a-tete.
With a career spanning
over a decade, Khan has
embodied many a characters in her time on screen
but obviously as time has
progressed, certain roles
must have taken on a saturated appeal. What kind
of characters does she
find attractive at this stage
as an actor and which
ones would she like to add
to her repertoire?
“To be very honest I’ve always tried to play varied
characters,” she reflects.
“But I’ve been limited in
my ability to explore more
nuanced roles because
we don’t have scriptwriters or an audience that
is willing to give space to
a balanced narrative. For
women there are only two polarizing characterizations;
either she is a baychari (helpless ingénue) or she’s a
totally negative character; an out and out villain.
I’ve never understood why people view personalities
as either white or black; this dichotomy doesn’t exist in
real life. Having said that, I have faced criticism in the
past over the women I’ve played on screen, complaining
about ones that are too negative or too hapless in their
depiction but the fact is, there’s only so much choice we
have as actors.
What I would like is obviously roles on women empowerment but our audience refuses to accept those. They
only want to see the girl who bites her lip, shies away
and acts all coy, like she’s never been touched or had
any desires in life; and I’ve done that to death. With
Mann Mayal, people hate my character Jeena but that’s
the success of the character. What is frustrating though
is when people can’t seem to differentiate between my
onscreen persona and who I am in real life. But in terms
of a character that I really want to play I am drawn to epic
romances like Heer
Ranjha or a localized
version of Romeo Juliet. Maybe something
like Umra-o-Jaan or
better still, I wouldn’t
mind playing a drug
addict. Addicts again
are consistently stigmatized, in reel and
real life but everyone
has a story. Why can’t
we show their struggle
instead of perpetually
vilifying them?”
If there was one role
that would epitomize
Khan’s c