ACTOR, designer and choreographer Shaiyanne Malik says she watches a lot of movies and loves to watch Indian films, especially those starring Shahrukh Khan. She says without any qualms, “I simply have to see any movie that has him in it.” Her current favourite is Kal ho na ho and she says she is bowled over by its title and the concept behind it. The other Indian movie that she has enjoyed watching recently is Mein hoon na, but she believes that it might be more because of the company she saw it with rather than because of the merits of the film. She saw the film with a group of friends in London.
For similar reasons, her all time favourite movie is Gone with the wind, which Shaiyanne says she saw on the big screen in Lahore with her family. “The film has a lot of my childhood memories and nostalgia attached to it. I saw it when I was growing up and in those days my father used to get the tickets to every new film, and the entire family would go to see it,” the designer says.
Among the relatively new movies, Chicago tops her list of favourites. Says the designer, “I thought it was brilliant. I love jazz and just loved the film. It made a huge impact on me and each time I see it, I enjoy it as much as I did when I watched it for the very first time.” She laughs, as she suddenly remembers another movie that she loves — the new version of Devdas. “I know many people squirm when they hear me say it, but in spite of all the overacting and melodrama, I enjoyed it. I was completely taken by the costumes, setting, atmosphere and songs.”
Judging by the films Shaiyanne mentions, it’s hard to believe when she claims she normally likes to watch serious films — like those that have drama in them or maybe a court case. She says, “I enjoy movies that are serious and have a bit of mystery in them. I particularly love true stories.”
As for music, Shaiyanne likes anything that is current. She adds: “I like music from films, particularly the latest ones. I have all the latest CDs, and whatever my kids are listening to. However, I don’t like trance and hard rock. I like jazz and all the old orchestras and classics, such as Beethoven. Of course, I have Sohail to thank for introducing me to that genre of music.”
Shaiyanne’s favourite singer though is Barry White. She says she also used to be a great fan of Neil Diamond’s. From the current crop, Dido and Celine Dion rank among her favourites. She loves I am alive sung by the latter and White flags by Dido.
Shaiyanne claims she loves to collect soundtracks of plays and movies irrespective of the singer, and has hundreds of them. But she is not a great fan of Pakistani singers, and only a few names really impress her. She admires Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and also likes Abida Parveen and Reshma. She isn’t into the local pop groups at all, and says she doesn’t find them at all inspiring.
Shaiyanne claims she reads every autobiography she can lay her hands on. She doesn’t enjoy science fiction or romances and prefers to read books based on truth. Currently, she is reading a book she is finding very interesting, called Lily Dale by Christine Wicker. She says, “The book is based on a city outside Boston where the people can speak to the dead.” Prior to that she was reading The poor die young, a book on housing and health in the Third World cities and has been motivated enough by it to want to make a documentary on the subject. However, her all time favourite book is Gone with the wind.
Shaiyanne does admit that she wasn’t always into serious reading. She used to read a lot of romances in her school days and has gone through the stock of Barbara Cartlands, Georgette Heyers and Mills and Boons, like every other girl she knew.
Reminisces Shaiyanne: “My father was very keen that we should read and he used to buy me lots of comics based on mythology, which that was my first exposure to reading. I still have those comics, bound and preserved. The generation I belong to used to read a lot, probably because there was hardly any television, and in the early days I read every Enid Blyton book available. I’d even hide in the cupboard and read.”
Shaiyanne says she loves to go to Urdu bazaar and the old Anarkali bazaar and pick up books people wouldn’t even look at. “In fact, we often get ideas and themes for our projects from there,” she says. To make her point of what a treasure house some of the most unexpected places can be, she proudly points to an old desk where they do all their writing and the kids do their homework, and says she picked it up from a kabaria.
In order to relax, Shaiyanne says she reads comics.
ACTOR, designer and choreographer Shaiyanne Malik says she watches a lot of movies and loves to watch Indian films, especially those starring Shahrukh Khan. She says without any qualms, “I simply have to see any movie that has him in it.” Her current favourite is Kal ho na ho and she says she is bowled over by its title and the concept behind it. The other Indian movie that she has enjoyed watching recently is Mein hoon na, but she believes that it might be more because of the company she saw it with rather than because of the merits of the film. She saw the film with a group of friends in London.
