Hero, host, producer. Fahad Mustafa is indubitably one of Pakistan’s favourite leading men. And an interview with him is never boring.

I believe that it can also never be politically correct. Fahad, at the zenith of his stardom right now, is not one to abide by what others consider to be ‘proper’.

It’s a major part of his appeal: the witty rejoinders, the impassioned opinions, the cocky quips delivered with a boyish smile, the caustic observations that are more or less all declared ‘off the record.’

His candid commentaries may have often made Fahad the disgruntled recipient of social media headlines, but they are also what endear him to a massive audience. They come to watch his movies and when he roams about a shiny, expansive set in Ramazan, doling out gifts, holding contests and bantering throughout, they love him for it.

He is at the zenith of his stardom right now, playing lead characters in films, raking in money from commercials and event appearances, and hosting a decade-long-running game show. He is also behind one of the top TV drama production companies. So why is he so disgruntled and caustic? Why does he say he is not enjoying anything?

He is ‘Fahad bhai’, an intrinsic part of their household every Ramazan for the past 10 years, through his show Jeeto Pakistan on ARY Digital.

In that vein, I know that an interview with Fahad will also always be widely read.

“I am completely myself when I am hosting Jeeto Pakistan,” he tells Icon.

More than he is at awards shows or at media events or during an interview? “Absolutely,” he says. “I am with my audience and they meet me with love and happiness without any ulterior motives. They are not searching for something negative about me so that they can criticise me later, they are not trying to cash in on meeting me by making a YouTube video. There are no strings attached.

“I am not really a host,” Fahad smiles. “I just go out there, not caring, being myself and perhaps that’s what has worked for Jeeto Pakistan.”

Would he be upset if, tomorrow, the show would close down?

“No, I have wanted the show to end for the past six years, but the audience response has always been so enthusiastic that it just keeps airing year after year,” he confesses. “I do enjoy hosting the show. If I have to host at any other time of the year, I literally have to be dragged out to the set. But there is a special feeling to hosting Jeeto Pakistan in Ramazan.

“There is only one day’s show in Ramazan that I don’t record live. I open my fast at home and the channel plays a pre-recorded show. When I step out of my home after iftar, I can hear my voice coming from the windows of all the homes around me. That’s very special.

“If tomorrow the show ends, I won’t miss it. But I do know that I wouldn’t want to host on any other channel.”

Channel loyalties

This leads to the inevitable question: why not the other channels?

Fahad replies, “My productions and hosting are all associated with ARY Digital, but the films that I act in are usually in partnership with other channels. I set my acting work aside for the others.”

He continues: “I did use to work with other channels, but then I stopped. Some didn’t pay me the money that they owed me and production can only continue if you get regular returns from the channel that you’re working with.

“It’s really so unfortunate that we have a handful of major channels and they can’t collaborate together for the betterment of the industry, particularly film. There have been many times that I have suggested to them that they just need to invest into different films together and, within 10 years, our TV actors will be major film heroes. We won’t be referencing Shah Rukh or Amitabh then. But no one wants to work together.”

He recalls, “I remember that there was this one time that a movie of mine was about to release and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s movie Dilwale was also releasing around the same time. My movie was only promoted on the one channel that was its media partner. All the other talk show hosts and news channels completely ignored it, as if it didn’t even exist.

“On the other hand, the SRK movie was talked about on every small and big channel, with people reviewing it and interviewing the cast. It was free of cost promotion across the board. Why can’t we extend the same kind of support for our own films?”

He openly professed to be part of the ARY team at the recent Lux Style Awards (LSAs), a ceremony that will be airing on another channel, the Hum TV Network. Did this end up raising eyebrows?

“Why would it?” he questions me. “I would never make any below the belt jokes or insult anyone. But we were at an awards ceremony — Pakistan’s only major awards ceremony to my mind — where major representatives of all the channels were present. There is nothing wrong with everyone sitting together and laughing together.

“Why is it getting difficult for people to sit together? Humayun Saeed’s and my movies have often been released simultaneously and been nominated together. I have always been very happy for him, whenever he has won. My respect for him has never decreased.

“The way the fraternity perceives the LSAs today makes me sad. I have seen grand LSA ceremonies, where everyone used to gather together. Last year, the event took place in Lahore and very few people came. And the ones who did — even the ones who were paid to be there — decided to criticise the event afterwards. Don’t come at all if you don’t agree with the awards. Don’t talk about it later at least. Why does everyone have to have an agenda?”

Critical thinking

Also, at the LSAs, many of Fahad’s jibes were against the media present. “We haven’t done anything controversial yet. Let’s give them something to talk about,” he and co-host Saba Qamar had joked with each other.

This isn’t anything new. He has, on countless occasions, spoken about critics not being genuine in their comments, about unfair favouritism and how Instagram blogs and YouTube pages are solely focused on controversy.

It is true that some of his productions may not have gone down well with some critics but, at the same time, he has often been the recipient of effusive praise for his work. Why is he so mistrustful of the media?

“I just see everyone around me trying to create controversy and cash in on it,” he says. “I see people interviewing celebrities and, instead of focusing on their guest’s work, trying to look like stars themselves.

“Our actors don’t get any prior training. They come into this profession and learn over time. It is unfair that four people sit together and try to catch them out by asking them tricky questions, waiting for them to make a blunder so that they can be humiliated.

“Nowhere in the world is a production critiqued while it is still on air. It is only here, while the drama is still trying to attract an audience, that our critics sit and start looking for flaws.” This assertion is of course completely wrong, but I let Fahad continue.

“And they’ll point out the strangest things — like what was so and so wearing. They are actually taking their personal revenge, because that particular actor probably hadn’t given them the time of the day.”

So, should there be no critique at all then? “There should be, but it needs to be genuine and not petty,” Fahad says. “It is because of the drama industry that they are there and we are there. We all need to work together, in order to make sure that it grows.”

He adds: “And now, four, five actors working in our own industry have decided to sit on TV and criticise our work. They say that they want to teach us how to do things right. If they want to teach me, they know me, they can come and tell me. But they want to do it on TV, of course, so that they can earn money from it.

“I can guarantee that if today I call these actors, while the show itself is being filmed, and offer them a role, they will jump at it, without even reading the script.

“If actors want to improve a drama, my request to them is to just come on time. Even that would be enough.”

A patience for production

So actors don’t come on time even when a drama is helmed by a production house as prestigious as Fahad’s Big Bang Entertainment?

“No, and when they come, a lot of them are unwilling to work,” he says wryly. “Producers and directors have their work cut out for themselves, shooting in a 500 square yard house, with four or five rooms, with half the day spent trying to figure out how to dedicate one entire room to an actor who is adamantly demanding it.

“If they think a drama’s script is bad, they don’t have to sign on to it. No one’s forcing them. They can sit and wait for a script that they find better. But they want to earn also and they want to later complain about the drama as well.

“Naumaan Ijaz is a senior actor famous for saying whatever comes to his mind but, from my perspective, there could be no better performer. When he comes on set, he is intent on understanding his director’s vision, regardless of whether it is a new director or an old one. It’s why, even when he stars in a guest appearance in a drama, his role makes an impact.

“And this is why, sometimes, actors with major roles are completely forgettable. They just aren’t interested in working when they come on set!”

I can sense a lot of pent-up frustration from Fahad with his producer hat on. He continues: “Just consider: if Pakistani dramas are that bad and, tomorrow, the drama industry closes down, all these actors complaining about their work will no longer be earning.”

I observe that a drama producer must have to be very patient.

“The producer only has to be patient!” he exclaims, adding, “But I love it. I get to work with so many different people. If I am producing four different dramas and even if the actors are giving me trouble in two of them, I will really be enjoying myself in the other two.

“Like, I am working on a new drama right now starring Hamza Sohail and Iqra Aziz and both actors are so passionate about their work and just as invested as I am in their doing their best. Whether the drama is a success or not comes later, but the process of making it should be fun. There are actors who are terrible, some who are good and some who just don’t seem bad because they are lesser evils compared to others!

“It’s just that, in the past two years or so, actors’ attitudes have changed to such an extent that work can become difficult. So many of them get blinded by money or social media fame or the lies fed to them by people who flatter them. I have also met plenty of people who flatter me, but I prefer to spend my time with genuine friends who will call me out and give me their honest opinions.

“Also, actors need to let their director’s vision guide them rather than dwell over what critics and people in general are saying. During the pandemic, I produced a drama called Nand. We followed strict precautionary protocols but we didn’t stop shooting and the drama kept the channel running.

“Critics had the usual issues with the story but I didn’t care and, eventually, the drama spanned 150 episodes. And then, when I visited Canada for an event, everyone there knew the names of the characters, the dialogues, the plot twists. I don’t care what these four so-called intellectuals say about my dramas — and neither should actors!”

Fahad is on a roll. “Similarly, I was recently on a private cruise along with [director] Nadeem Baig and [actor and screenwriter] Vasay Chaudhry, and people there kept asking me about my drama Bandish. These were people who travelled the world, had access to all kinds of content, but they were watching my drama. The beauty of our dramas is that the entire family can watch it together. It’s what keeps our audience hooked.”

What about dramas that drag endlessly, relying on umpteen flashbacks and long renditions of the title track in order to extend the story by several more episodes, I ask him. “Sometimes, they drag. Sometimes, people want to listen to the title track again. You are looking at the drama far too critically, searching out flaws,” he tells me, softening the words by smiling. “The audience likes it.”

Playing favourites

So, what does he enjoy the most: acting, hosting or producing? “I love acting in films,” he promptly replies. “I think it’s also because my movies have generally done well.”

Was he expecting to win the Best Actor award at the LSAs, especially since the organisers requested him to leave the stage, where he was hosting, to sit in the audience right before the announcement?

“I really wasn’t,” he confesses. “I was there as one of the hosts of the ceremony. I didn’t even know that my drama Betiyaan, which won in the Best TV Long Serial category, was nominated. Real happiness comes from your work speaking for itself, not your controversy.”

Does he sometimes not hire certain actors because they have recently been involved in a controversy? “Yes, sometimes I don’t,” he says. “I don’t think like that, but channels have to, and they have their particular requirements when they invest so much money into a project.

“There are times when we may not work again with certain actors for a while because they have been difficult. After some time, though, we might work with them again and, maybe, by that time they may have improved.

“Times have changed so much,” he says. “Everyone’s just got so obsessed with social media that work suffers. Even if I am invited to a dinner by someone, they start making movies of me. I want to be able to smile freely, to not always be alert for the camera. Also, everyone has a YouTube channel. I was in Lahore some days ago, and I had to sit for three interviews for friends who are now YouTubing or hosting talk shows. It’s unfair.”

I recall a time when he actually used to love interviews, remembering when I first interviewed him many years ago. “Yes, I used to love it but not anymore. I don’t really enjoy anything much right now.”

I think he notices my raised eyebrow.

“But I will,” he tells me quickly. “I am getting some scripts written. Next year, I will be acting a lot, I am contemplating about acting in a drama, working in one film directed by Nabeel Qureshi and two that I plan to produce myself.”

That’s exciting news. I tell him that I hadn’t known that he was considering film production. “I would have done it a long time ago but the pandemic slowed things down,” he says.

Perhaps then, next year, when I meet Fahad Mustafa he will be enjoying himself more. Or maybe there will be new disgruntled observations, shocking commentaries and incisive home-truths.

There will also be new successes, no doubt. He may not be politically correct and he may look at the workings of the industry with a jaundiced eye these days, but Fahad Mustafa also knows what works for his audience.

That’s what makes him their hero.

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 26th, 2023