I knew that it was going to be difficult tracking down Fahad Mustafa for an interview. This is a busy, busy time for him. He is acting in two major movies slotted for release on Eidul Azha — Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2 (JPNA2) and Load Wedding — and he has his hands full with making back-to-back promotional appearances, spiraling from trailer launches to song shootings to media meet-ups. He is also simultaneously filming episodes of his game show Jeeto Pakistan, pre-recording some of them so that they can be aired when he will be touring the country for pre-release promotions. Making things more difficult is the fact that he is unwell.

There is, however, so much that I need to ask Fahad, so many questions that he has never been asked and I coordinate endlessly with him. Timings and venues are scheduled and rescheduled until, finally, we meet in a nondescript studio in Korangi, Karachi. He is still unwell but he is nevertheless there, along with the starry ensemble cast of JPNA2, shooting a promotional song for the movie. As the set gets prepared, Fahad plunges straight into the interview, gathering strength with some black coffee.

Talking cinema

“It’s the stress of having two movies releasing simultaneously that’s making me ill,” he says only half-joking. “I stay awake at nights wondering how to coordinate things. Even if I try my hardest, I won’t be able to be a part of both movies’ pre-release schedules completely. The next few days are probably going to be the toughest in my life.

“I wish that one day our filmmakers’ obsession with releasing movies particularly on Eid comes to an end. I hope that both movies do well but I know that on its own, each has the potential to be a major blockbuster if released separately. Moreover, Hum Films’ Parwaaz Hai Junoon is also hitting cinemas on Eidul Azha. This means that three major filmmakers will not be coming up with any other movies over the course of next year. Local cinema will once again have to make do with a slew of hit-and-miss efforts. If only our directors and producers could agree to avoid clashes and space out release dates!”

Fahad Mustafa has two potential hit movies coming out simultaneously next Eid. As a fallback option he’s got a successful and long-running game show on TV. What’s the secret to his success?

Had he asked the producers of JPNA2 and Load Wedding to switch dates? “Of course, I asked both of them but it didn’t work. I’m taking consolation in the fact that whoever is seeing both movies’ trailers is saying that I look completely different in them. At least there won’t be any repetition in the characters that I’m playing.”

In Load Wedding, Fahad plays a small-town village bumpkin, pairing once again with Nabeel Qureshi, the director who has so far signed him on to every film that he has made. “Nabeel and I just get along. I’m very hard-working. I will listen to his rants, turn up on set on time and understand what he’s trying to depict in a scene. I know people complain that he doesn’t sign on any new hero but I think he just does that because he and I connect very easily.”

Meanwhile, the JPNA2 trailer hints that he’s a raving Lothario with an evil streak. Acting along with him in the movie is a star-studded cast that includes Humayun Saeed, Ahmed Ali Butt, Vasay Chaudhry, Kubra Khan and Mawra Hocane. Was Fahad pleasantly surprised by the trailer where he has gotten plenty of screen time despite the fact that Humayun is producing the movie as well as playing the other male lead in it? “I signed on to JPNA2 in good faith and never once asked Humayun or director Nadeem Baig about how many scenes I’ll have. What I did know is that Humayun is very intelligent and that he would never allow his movie to suffer due to a narcissistic need to overshadow another actor. There was a time when I played the side role of his younger brother in a drama. Today, I am acting alongside him in a movie. That means a lot to me. I am also a producer now and my company Big Bang Entertainment produces a large range of dramas for TV. There’s a lot that I have learnt and applied to my career simply by observing Humayun Saeed’s career graph.”

Inside secrets and starry travails

In an industry rife with egos and one-upmanship, what’s the secret that enables Fahad to stay so cordial with Humayun and other contemporaries? It turns out that it boils down to the lack of a gossiping stylist! “You’ll never hear us putting each other down because we have all worked very hard to get where we are and we respect that. Also, we don’t have personal stylists that pump our egos endlessly and gossip with us about others. I now see so many young actors and actresses who are surrounded by people who flatter them endlessly and put them under the delusion that they are stars. They all begin wanting too much too soon without having to work for it. They throw tantrums and revel in staying in the news by making controversial statements on Twitter. Long-term success and true fans aren’t won like that.”

But is Fahad, with his huge fan-following and cinematic success, not inclined towards starry airs and graces at all? I tell him about talk that I have occasionally heard of how arrogant he is and travels with an entire entourage which usually includes his stylist, his trainer and his assistant. “Why wouldn’t I travel with my team?” he replies. “I take them along so that I won’t have to bother others about the things that I need. When my trainer comes with me, everyone else on the set gets inspired to work out as well. Humayun, Nadeem Baig, everyone. And yes, I can be arrogant but only with people who are trying to antagonise me.

“The thing is, I have always been like this,” he laughs. “It’s just that people notice it more now. I used to love skipping out on work. I wouldn’t turn up for a show recording or get a shoot cancelled but I simply can’t do that anymore. If a project gets delayed because of me or I don’t turn up for a show, it becomes a big deal because people judge me for it.

“If I get angry, it gets noticed but, then again, I’m human. I get tired, I get irritated when phones get poked into my face and people start making long videos. We were shooting for Load Wedding in Daska, a town in Punjab, and when the shoot ended a group of boys on motorbikes began tailing my car. When my car got stuck in a traffic jam, they jumped off their bikes and began making videos of me through my car window. Then, further ahead, the road was broken and they placed their bikes in front of my car and lay down on the road. For the first time in a long while, I lost my temper and I got out from my car and began racing after them in the fields. And even while he was running away from me, this one boy kept his cell phone turned towards me, making a video. If that video ever gets released, it would probably be assumed that I was arrogant and lost my temper. But I was just exhausted and those boys had been goading me.

“The upside of it is the way people love me,” he continues. “My complexion gets ruined very easily on the screen and so the assistants on the set are always trying to take care of me, shading me with umbrellas. I never ask them to do it but they do it because they love me.”

Since he has broached the subject of his complexion, I tentatively ask him if he is a big believer in Vitamin-E injections that ensure fairer skin? His complexion, over the years, has changed drastically and there is often conjecture about how he must have undergone a number of skin treatments. “Not at all!” he professes. “It’s strange, people ask me this all the time. I was jogging once and this boy raced up to me and said, ‘Fahad Bhai, I’m getting married next month. Please let me know what medicines you take for becoming fairer’. The truth is, I haven’t gotten any skin treatment. I take basic vitamins orally daily and that’s primarily to stay healthy rather than to become fair. All that’s really happened is that I have become successful. There was a time when I would catch a bus to go to the university. Now I live a good, comfortable life and I’m successful in my career. It’s somehow cleared up my complexion!”

Game show hosting, ‘his’ way

With success, though, come responsibilities, and Fahad was recently under fire when he made fun of a little girl’s sketch of him in his game show. He has also been critiqued for playing games that involve body shaming, where the fattest man or woman gets awarded a major prize. Doesn’t he think that he should become more sensitive about what he says on air? “I like to tease children and I talk to them in a certain way. I had spoken to the girl in a friendly way and she didn’t mind even though the whole episode was picked up and blown out of proportion by social media the next day. And the people who play the games on my show don’t mind. They are having fun and they know that I don’t have any bad intentions in mind.

“Regardless of how much I get criticied, the audience at my show is always so charged. They love it when I climb on a car or say ‘Soch lo’. Some of the jokes that I crack on my show are now being referred to in my upcoming movies. Nabeel has made me climb on to a car. There is a wisecrack in JPNA2 about me giving away prizes.

“I feel happy that I have created these jokes that are now known to everybody. I also feel satisfied that whatever I have achieved so far, I have gotten it by doing things in my own way. All the clothes I wear are still made by my tailor, Cherry. He has a shop in PECHS, Karachi. My father used to go to him for his Eid clothes and I have gotten my clothes made from him all my life. My stylist is the man who has been my barber for years. He has a shop in Nazimabad. I haven’t felt the need to splurge on designer brands just so that I could show off a label or take pictures of my lifestyle and post them on social media. It’s worked for me.”

With Jeeto Pakistan continuing its strong run, with a hefty line-up of hit movies to his credit and with two more that look very promising, it seems that Fahad’s ‘way’ does work.

Published in Dawn, ICON, July 29th, 2018