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RISING STAR: Ambition: the name of the game
Angeline Malik had recently moved into her new apartment. Things were strewn everywhere and she was busy setting it up properly.
“I have people walking in and out of my home all the time, hence the delay in setting up the house.”
That made this scribe one of the guilty people. But she immediately sets my mind at ease.
“I am passionate about my work.” Angeline says ‘passionately’ (three times in all during our conversation).”Why else would I be living miles away from my family in a city I hardly know?”
Most of us (laymen) don’t know that there is a brigade of young talented blood that upcoming production houses and channels are hiring. And what is paid to these aspirants is peanuts against a workload that is the size of an army.
“I am overworked and underpaid,” Angeline rues quoting Alanis Morissette.
Her unruly hair and bright orange attire belie her soft nature.
One had expected her to be a head-strong, over confident girl all full of herself. For how many other novices do you know who, in their short stint with the camera, had grilled personalities like Shafi Mohammed and Talat Hussain during interviews?
‘I also want to act abroad. There is a dearth of Asian actors in Hollywood and England and I have an agent in London who will get me in touch with people wanting Asian actors’
“It was last year when I met Ghazanfar, which was for a completely different reason. But he ended up offering me a place in this talk show programme. I took the challenge, but then I wondered, ‘How do I go about it?’ But my first interview with Shafi Mohammad was so good that I never had a problem after that.”
Angeline finished recording for Black and White just two months ago. The programme has been running for nearly a year. She has been associated with the camera since 1994 when she worked as coordinator for Jamal Shah during his Kal, the serial that launched Vaneeza as an actress.
“But no matter how hard I try to be behind it, it seems I am destined to be in front of the camera.”
Angeline has done her Masters in Sculpture from Hunerkada, Islamabad. Acquainted with Jamal Shah for a long time, and she was, according to her, the inspiration for the character of Sanam in Musafir Din Musafir Ratein.
“They told me that Zeba Bakhtiar would be playing Sanam and I was kept busy handling the script when suddenly one day they said that I had to do the role.”
Besides being a certified sculptor, Angeline is also a TV editor, actress and now a writer and director. And though she is putting her talent to good work, she feels that she still needs to master them. But for that she needs time, and time is one thing Angeline doesn’t have.
“There was an episode of Mystery Theatre, a project of Ghazanfer’s that I was currently involved in, where I was the writer, director and the leading lady. I feel, even though the play did well, that I could not do justice to any of my duties.”
And it was during Black and White that Owais Khan offered Angeline a role in Reshma tou Jalli Hai.
“I sat all night with Uzma Gilani working on the siraiki accent that I needed for the role I was playing. And that is what acting is about, developing oneself. I try and be the person that I am portraying on screen and that is the mark of a good actress.”
Angeline has an hour-long chunk of airtime on a private channel for which she is making Mystery Theatre. She has been given the responsibility of directing, screen-writing and casting.
Won’t this load affect her work?
“Previously, I had thought that I would not be taking on too much, but I believe I was naive then. Things are very different now. I also want to act aboard. There is a dearth of Asian actors in Hollywood and other foreign films and I have an agent in London who will get me in touch with people wanting Asian actors. Another point I want to get straight is that I work freelance and am not bound by any contract to any channel. Since a specific channel has bought all my plays, people assume that I am working exclusively for them.”
Angeline spent the initial ten years of her life in London and her family is settled there. The daughter of an eye-specialist, this go-getter has crossed a number of seas not only geographically but personally. When she started Black and White she had problems with the language. But then with time she successfully scaled that boundary and achieved other things as well. When asked whether her personal life has suffered because of her busy schedule, Angeline says:
“It has been put on hold till I complete my projects in Pakistan and return to London. Marriage and kids are definitely on, and that too, hopefully in the near future.”
Angeline Malik has a happy smile on her face as she says she is looking forward to going back to London. I left her apartment wishing her luck and reward for the hard work she is doing making a niche for herself in this begotten industry.
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