Fawad Khan is not your contemporary 33-year-old actor. He doesn’t have a stylist, a buff body, an acting legacy, an actor wife, an attitude or a swagger. His solemn demeanour can be quite confusing once you find out how young he is.

He may be better known for his acting on stage or dastaangoi [storytelling], but at present he is making waves as Mehboob in the Express TV drama serial Piyari Bitto (PB). “Mehboob does not have a big ego,” Fawad says explaining his character in the popular serial. “He does not feel the need to dominate females and is hopelessly in love with Shakira, his first wife, despite all the mishaps and misfortunes and misunderstandings.”

Despite working opposite veteran stars such as Atiqa Odho, Sania Saeed, Farah Shah and Rashid Farooqi, Fawad’s acting didn’t once falter in PB. “The senior actors are not there to overshadow you, but to support you, so it would be easy for anyone to shine,” he says gracefully. “Also Mazhar [Moin] is a director who will relax an actor and improvise on something that an actor does not find satisfactory. Other directors will sweat over the right prop but will unnecessarily pressurise actors.”

Prior to PB, Fawad worked in TV One’s Shaista Shaista (2010) and Geo TV’s Teri Meri Jorri (2015).  Since Fawad has worked mostly in theatre, close-ups and nuances required for the camera seemed tricky for him at first. “Mazhar helped me stabilise my performance for TV, working on gestures, eyes and body work,” he says.

Stage and TV actor Fawad Khan talks to Icon about the dearth of original work in Pakistani theatre, his ambitions as a playwright and the benefits of being the namesake of a celebrated film star

Fawad actually majored in direction for stage from the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) in 2008. “I wanted to become a filmmaker as I was under the impression that Napa was a film academy, but it opened a whole new world to me,” Fawad says.

After graduation, both TV and theatre work was offered to him but he mostly opted for the stage.  Television is now too commercialised, he feels. “The quality of scripts that you get in theatre, you don’t get on TV. For theatre, we rehearse a 90-minute play one and a half months for six hours a day. We explore the play for a long time and we don’t have this kind of opportunity for television since it is a medium that has restrictions and limitations. On stage, we are least dependent on technology, so the performance is just between audience and the actor. Theatre is closer to a book and engages your imagination. It’s also more challenging, but the way we go about doing a theatre play is more enjoyable.”

Reminiscing about his daunting portrayal of Danish in Kamal Ahmed Rizvi’s dark comedy Khoya Hua Aadmi, an adaptation of The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Fawad admits he would love to do it again. “Khalid Ahmed directed it for stage as a tribute to Kamal Ahmed Rizvi in 2016. The story is about a couple who lives in Clifton, and after a robbery, their lives change. Eventually, Danish has a nervous breakdown. Instead of approaching it as pure drama, we deliberately retained the elements of comedy which included Kamal sahib’s caustic one-liners. The script was interpreted differently and the situation was made comical through dialogue. Kamal sahib had performed this character with Khalida Riyasat for PTV. I tried not to imitate him but to add some originality,” he says, explaining the challenging transition from serious to comedy.  

Fawad enjoys working with directors such as Khalid Ahmed, Sunil Shankar and Syed Meesam Naqvi while Zia Mohyeddin, Rahat Kazmi, Sania Saeed and Naseerudin Shah are his inspirations. He reminisces fondly about his stage experiences. “I did Janay Pehchanay Ajnabi directed by Zain Ahmed which is based on an improvisation,” he says. “A couple of years ago, Winter’s Tale was done in Urdu and it was directed by Gregory Thompson who had come down from London. That was an amazing experience. I have worked with Sunil Shankar in quite a few plays including Qusurwaar and Chup — I wrote the latter and it was performed again at the [recently held] Karachi Literature Festival. I directed a play in which Rahat Kazmi acted and that was a truly unforgettable experience as he is one of my teachers.”

What about films? Fawad says he loves to watch films by Darren Aronofsky, Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen. Locally, his favourite directors are Sabiha Sumar, Nabeel Qureshi, Jami and Shoaib Mansoor. He has worked in Jeevan Haathi and Gardaab and says he would love to work with Mehreen Jabbar and Sarmad Khoosat. But he’s not desperate to do films. “Theatre is not a stepping stone, kya uss ki apni koi wuqat nahin hai? [Is it not important in itself?] Progressing to films is not the zenith of an actor’s career.” 

Fawad sounds a wee bit irritated when asked about film offers that have come his way. “When you do a film tau aap aagay barrh gaye hain [you have progressed] is a misconception. Once we start becoming known in theatre, people say ab tum TV karlo, film karlo [now you should do TV, do a film]. These are different mediums and you don’t move up to one from another. You just choose to work in one. Theatre is not a lesser medium!”

Fawad also believes there should be more academies in other cities to make theatre more popular. “Although,” he admits, “theatre audiences are steadily growing despite the fact that Napa doesn’t publicise too much.”

Do our audiences actually understand theatre? “Many times people come with different expectations but surprisingly they still get entertained,” says Fawad. “Sometimes due to a lack of exposure, people don’t know if they would like something or not. They don’t know their taste. If they expect to see a Salman Khan film but find out that they got an Anurag Kashyap film instead, they won’t be too amused,” he smiles and his face lights up. “I don’t do theatre for a specific audience. I believe that if someone understands Urdu, they should become engrossed in what is being offered to them.”

Does theatre pay well? “Nahin [No],” he says softly with a twinkle in his eyes, suggesting that it is common knowledge. “You do theatre for the love of it,” he continues with a hint of cheekiness. “For making a living, you have to do other stuff. I do voice-overs, audio books, I teach at several places, do storytelling for children and dastaangoi has also picked up.”

Dastaangoi or the dramatic narration of fascinating tales has seen a recent revival in Pakistan and Fawad has mesmerised audiences with his performances for the last four years. “Four years ago at T2F, we revived dastaangoi, the ancient art of storytelling. In India, the revival began way before here and Shamsur Rahman Farooqi, writer of the monumental Kayi Chaand Thay Sar-i-Asman is the man behind this revival. Initially we thought, being an old art form, it may not appeal to people. But we have received an overwhelming response at our sessions in universities, literature festivals and in performances for a variety of audiences.”

On a lighter note, the actor talks about how being the namesake of film star Fawad Khan has fared for him. “There was a time girls would call up and confirm if I am the Fawad Khan and I would say I am not but that, if you want to give presents, I’ll accept those,” he grins. “Recently at the Faiz Festival, people were gate-crashing because they read my name and thought ‘Fawad Khan’ was there. Once, a TV Channel sent my payment cheque to Fawad Khan by mistake. I am hoping that the same error happens with his payment cheque and it would come to me instead,” he chuckles.  

Going back to theatre, Fawad laments the dearth of original work in Pakistani theatre. “Writing is the toughest and I want to do it because it challenges me. I took classes in writing theatre from Dr Anwar Sajjad and have written a bit too. I would love to be known as a playwright. However, that is something I am least confident about,” he confesses. “Only people who understand and are actively involved in theatre can write theatre plays. For example, William Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw and David Mamet. When you know the medium, you know what possibilities there are.”

Will we see more of Fawad as a playwright, the actor, or the dastaango in the future? He smiles, the twinkle returns. “The thing is I want to do everything.”

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 25th, 2018