February 3, 2002

It’s easy to understand why Waqar Ali Khan is a popular guy: he’s charming, affable, confident without being arrogant, funny and there’s no denying that he’s good looking. In a short period, Waqar has managed to gain recognition as a host of a music show, Music hour, on Pakistan’s satellite channel, ARY Digital but there’s more to him than just being a vee-jay. He was in Karachi recently to choreograph the channel’s first birthday bash show which took place last week.

His story, in short is as follows: born to a Pathan family in Swat, Waqar’s parents (his father was an airforce pilot and his mother a home-maker) migrated to England in the 60s when Waqar was two, where he with his two elder siblings (a brother and a sister) were brought up. When he was 16, and at school in London, someone suggested that he get involved in a fashion show. A keen oil painter at the time, Waqar thought they were interested in using his art work so he was a bit taken aback when they suggested he model on the catwalk. A talk with his friends convinced him to give it a try and they promised that they’d cheer him on during the show. The show’s presenter, Steve Walsh who was with the BBC (and has since passed on) told Waqar not to worry as he had all the requirements of a model.

“I had the right height and the right look and that I would get a lot of good exposure.”

During that show, when Waqar stepped out onto the walk for the first time, he forgot that after a certain beat he was supposed to turn around and head back with the result that when he did turn around, he was on stage alone.

“Everyone was laughing and I got really upset. But backstage, they were really supportive and told me not to worry.”

Right after the show, a woman approached Waqar with an offer to do another show, an idea he initially rejected until she said they’d pay him a good amount, he’d get to keep the clothes and he’d be travelling to another country.

“I asked my parents, who were a bit apprehensive in the beginning because they wanted me to study but they came round to it.”

Waqar went and upon his return signed on with a large modelling agency in London, Boss Models, a company whose clients include CK, Hugo Boss, Armani to name a few.

Waqar does admit to facing some prejudice in the beginning as he didn’t get booked for the first six months. It was by sheer luck (and a few contacts) that Waqar got a soft drink commercial which paid well. He then signed up for his first Asian fashion show where he met up with someone from Models One, one of the largest modelling agencies in the UK, and signed on with them. He also managed to secure his position well by signing an open contract which enabled him to do Asian shows, Arabic campaigns and of course, Western campaigns for which he has travelled all over the world, including New York to do a show for Versace.

In 1996 he won the Asian supermodel of the year award and the following year won “the face of Calvin Klein.” Waqar was modelling full time but was also keen to complete his education, which he did when he graduated from Southbank University with a degree in the media and IT.

During his time on the catwalk, he also began to experiment with choreography and “before I knew it, I was choreographing fashion shows myself.” In 1998, Waqar decided to open up his own agency, Open Door Promotions.

“I wanted to bring Asian models into the mainstream modelling scene. It was semi-agency style because I only took on eight models (four men and four women) and started teaching them everything about modelling and then began booking shows for them.”

That experience slowly branched out to event management where Waqar was responsible for everything behind high profile events. “I started with private parties and moved onto the club scene.”

Last year Waqar joined ARY. People must wonder why a successful model who was now doing well at the event management scene would throw in the towel to join a relatively small Pakistani television channel. Waqar admits that it was a risk but a risk that has paid off well today.

“My father knew the owners (they used to meet at fajr prayers at the mosque) and kept insisting I meet them so that was how it started.”

Waqar may have gone in with a lot of preconceived notions — “I didn’t want to work with Asians at the point because of bad experiences” — but after a meeting with the executives, those notions were broken. After organizing the channel’s launch party in London, Waqar joined the channel full time and with a sweet deal too: he continues to model and his event management company has merged in with the channel as it has parties and events in London almost once a month.

Although people see Waqar as the guy who hosts a show, few people realize that he’s head of programmes, executive producer for many of the channel’s shows and even writes scripts. Plus, he chooses presenters and trains them too although he’s still hoping to hire more Pakistani women; “it’s hard for them to convince their parents to let them join television,” he guesses. He acknowledges that competition is great but he’s confident that the channel will sail through it.

“We’ve got a lot of support so far from advertisers, the media, people in various industries and of course the viewers.” Waqar’s plans are clear: “We want the channel to be as mainstream as possible and as glamourous as possible — and we’ve managed. But we have to keep going.”

As a British Pakistani, Waqar hopes that through television the gap between the youngsters in both countries is lessened. “I’m trying to re-educate the second generation in Britain by saying ‘hey there’s nothing wrong with being Pakistani.’ There’s this stigma that it’s not cool to be on a Pakistani station but I took a risk and have never felt happier. The community has been supportive and is proud of us too, which is what I live for. I’m not in this for the fame because I’ve experienced that to an extent.” His parents have been very supportive of his career and he says his upbringing has a lot to do with his being grounded.

“I’ve met all the famous people you can imagine but it doesn’t make a difference. At the end of the day we’re all human beings on different levels and you should be able to adjust yourself on different levels.”

He speaks Pashto and English fluently and is practising his Urdu as much as possible; viewers may sometimes see him struggle with the language. But he’s had plenty of practise during this trip, which he describes as a fantastic one. Wherever he’s been — whether for work or for fun — he’s loved mingling with people and has forged new friendships. On the first night of his arrival Waqar was at a party where he was approached by a director with an offer to do a commercial — which he is currently filming.

During this trip he’s already managed to star in Rahim Shah’s new video which he’s excited about. He’ll also be touring Peshawar and Lahore to film localised episodes of his show Music Hour. In fact he’s already done a show in Karachi with pop star Haroon. It’s obvious that Waqar gives a multi-tasked person a whole new meaning.

What’s next in store for Waqar? He wants to go into directing and hopes to start with some music videos, “since so many of the pop stars are my friends,” he says. As far as music videos are concerned, he wants to concentrate on Pashto music videos since the quality of the videos so far hasn’t been very good. He also wants to go back to school and study film-making, something his father too is encouraging him to do. In another five years he hopes to make a film and when I ask if he would consider making a Pakistani film, he says he would.

Another surprise in store for his fans is that he’s planning to act in an upcoming Indian movie! He won’t divulge the details but he does say that he’s excited about it. Would he be open to acting in a Pakistani film? He says “sure. Someone has to approach me.” Are our directors listening?

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