He’s a face that you recognise instantly. An actor who frequents Pakistani TV drama screens just as often as he plays a meaty role in a star-studded Bollywood web series or movie. A man who enjoys the unique position of fitting in just as easily at a late-night celebrity soiree in Karachi as at a film premiere in Mumbai, or a Hollywood film location in Scotland.

Thirty years. A vast repertoire of impressive performances that span TV dramas, OTT series and movies helmed in Pakistan, India and Hollywood. A hectic schedule that has him skittering around the world constantly.

And Alyy Khan tells me that he wouldn’t ever want things to change.

“I want to die with my boots on,” he says. “If I am not in front of the camera for five days, I start getting agitated. If the phone doesn’t ring, I start wondering what’s wrong. If I am on set and I don’t come back exhausted from a scene, I get cross. An actor can wait on set for 10 hours and then just pour his heart into a minute-long scene and he’ll come home happy.”

With 30 years in front of the camera and a repertoire teeming with top-tier projects, the actor admits it’s his love for being on set that fuels his desire to keep working, even if the project is cliched. But how does he see the differences between Pakistani TV, Bollywood and Hollywood? And what does he really want to be known for?

I am meeting Alyy shortly after he has returned from Mumbai, having attended the premiere of The Archies, the Netflix original film adapted from the popular comic books. He plays Mr Lodge in the movie — the aristocratic billionaire who can’t see beyond profit — alongside an ensemble that includes a hefty line-up of star kids.

Sitting across me, his back straight, chin held high, speaking eloquently, he really is a cinch for playing the wealthy, glib businessman. I tell him this. It isn’t something that he hasn’t heard before.

“I have often got cast in such roles before and I was discussing this some days ago with some friends in Mumbai. I asked them why a Mirzapur never came my way, was it because of the way that I spoke?” he says.

“They told me that when characters like Mr Lodge come up, there aren’t enough actors in the pool who can play it as convincingly as you.”

One wouldn’t be human if one didn’t ever get jaded,” he shrugs. “But this is a job that you can only do if you’re truly passionate about it. Even after so many years in the business, I still feel motivated every day to come on set.”

I intervene that his acting prowess is undeniable and he should take this as a compliment.

“Yes,” he agrees, “but it’s also a double-edged sword. It means that I am unable to get other kinds of work and show my versatility. In Pakistan, though, I get offered different roles. Usually, I am cast as a father figure and possibly a toxic one. There just isn’t much variation in the role. I’ve just done it so many times that it can get boring. Even in Pakistan, I don’t get to play the Saleem Mairaj kind of character. I’d love to!”

Is he just as comfortable on a Pakistani drama set as he is at a Bollywood film location? “Yes!” he smiles. “I was born in Karachi, grew up, studied and lived for a large part of my life in Mumbai, and I have a British passport. I currently live in both the UK and Pakistan, and I pay my taxes in all three places! If I think about it, I am from everywhere but also nowhere!”

The British passport has, of course, played a major role in making it possible for him to amass such an extensive, impressive bibliography. “Yes, but I’d also like to think that talent has something to do with it,” he corrects me.

“I am where I am today, working on multiple projects, still willing to get up every morning and spend 12 hours on set. It means that I truly have a passion for what I do.”

Loving the process

So, you don’t get jaded, ever? I ask him. Even when you’ve just wrapped up a major international project and return to Pakistan to enact a cookie-cutter father figure in a TV drama?

“One wouldn’t be human if one didn’t ever get jaded,” he shrugs. “But this is a job that you can only do if you’re truly passionate about it. Even after so many years in the business, I still feel motivated every day to come on set and, then, once I am there, to behave myself and not get crochety [if I have to wait] and then graciously deliver the work that I am being paid to do. I love it to be able to do it.”

And if the role that he’s enacting is not a particularly unique or exciting one? “One can either be a jobbing actor or a selective one. I am a jobbing actor, 150 percent!” he tells me.

“There are some things that you’ll do for creative satisfaction, some you do for an Oscar and some you do just for the pay. Regardless, my pocket demands that I work. The field here is very competitive. We don’t earn enough money by a single project and, so, in order to maintain a certain lifestyle, we have to keep working.

“Also, they say that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop. I’d rather sit idle on a set and wait for my scene to be filmed than sit idle at home — especially when someone is paying you to be on that set. I love the process of getting up in the morning, being in front of the camera, and being able to contribute.”

He continues, “I started working back in 1992. Satellite TV had just taken off and the volume of content required was so much that we would end up working 40 days in a month, squeezing in double shifts in a day, working Sundays, taking time out for a corporate event or a radio show in the morning. When you get accustomed to that volume of work, then you can no longer sit at home doing nothing.

“I shot with Sean Bean for six months in Rajasthan and, one evening [after shooting], I asked him how much an actor his calibre worked. He told me, ‘70 days a year, 75 if I am lucky.’ Obviously, the money he made was enough to last him a year but I was curious to know what he did during his off time.

“He said he prepared for the time that he would be shooting, do workshops, improve his skill set, spend time with his family, travel, cook. In our case, we’re just tuned to think that if we are not working, there is something wrong.

“The days that I was not shooting in Mumbai, I would go wearing a T-shirt and shorts to a studio and dub for a film and earn maybe 4,000 rupees or 5,000 rupees for the work. It would be great practice.”

I am still sceptical, reminded of a recent hit Pakistani drama where he played a sleazy stepfather trying to make a move on his stepdaughter. What if it’s a sleazy, cringey role? He muses over this.

“There are times when I won’t be completely in the know of the script. I sign on because I trust the production house or the director and, once I have agreed, I have to be professional and not create a tamasha [scene]on set. Maybe the concept is cringey, maybe it’s been written in a cringey way, but I will try to play the character to the best of my abilities.”

Alyy adds, “There are times when I’ll make corrections to the script. I am the one saying those dialogues, it’s my face on screen. I have to make it as convincing as possible.”

International ground

I change tack towards The Archies. The Zoya Akhtar-directed film was much-awaited but didn’t rake in as many rave reviews as had been expected. Why does he think this is the case?

He muses: “Perhaps it didn’t generate as much excitement as I had expected. Maybe it’s because it’s a Netflix original film that people just see on TV when they feel like it. They aren’t especially getting into a car with their dates, wives or families, buying popcorn and tickets and dedicating four or five hours of their lives to watching the film. That makes the viewing process more casual.”

Does he think that the movie was critiqued more severely because it was the launch-pad for an entire bunch of star kids and, as a result, higher expectations were attached to it?

“I didn’t really see the movie until the premiere in Mumbai, when I saw it with an audience that mainly consisted of industry friends, family and well-wishers,” says Alyy. “That night, the reception I witnessed and the vibe I felt was outstanding. Perhaps later, negativity began to come out and there was trolling on the internet.

“Everyone has the right to express their opinions. But from my perspective, usually the content available on OTT platforms such as Netflix is more gritty, more dark. The Archies, in contrast, is a feel-good, loving, friendly Christmas film with positive messages, and some great music scored by Loy, Ehsaan and Shankar, which drives the narrative forward.”

He adds, “I think a fair criticism is that for these kids to deliver the way that they did, it didn’t feel to me in any way that this was their debut film. They all appeared to be experienced, well-rehearsed, well-cast actors who performed admirably. Some of these actors may have famous families but they all went through multiple auditions and then a year of training before filming began.

“Suhana (Khan) and Aggy (Agastya Nanda) have both studied acting in New York, at the Tisch School of the Arts. If you have studied the craft, have the passion, then you have to come to the playing field and see if the audience likes you. You could be anyone’s son or daughter, but ultimately the camera decides your fate.”

So, he doesn’t think that the star-kids in The Archies had an advantage, managing to land such a much-hyped project more easily because of their family connections?

“I think that the advantage they had was that they knew how to behave on a set,” he tells me. “They knew how much pressure there is, how long the working hours can be. They have been exposed to all that at a young age. I think that, if anything, they were all under pressure to live up to the expectations attached to them. There was humility rather than attitude.”

Another recent project that he worked on was the Disney+ Hotstar series The Trial, opposite Bollywood actress Kajol. The series quickly came under scrutiny because evidently Kajol broke her no-kissing policy in it. The actor she kissed was Alyy.

He comments, “I actually had no idea that she had a no-kissing policy. I didn’t really know Kajol before we worked together in The Trial. I only found out that there was a kiss in the story when I read the script and people simply made a mountain out of a molehill. I remember watching the series with my family. My wife and I were sitting together on one sofa and our daughter was sitting on another sofa and the kiss just came and went. They looked at me and I looked at them and we just kept on watching. They just saw two characters on screen rather than the actors, which is what made it believable.”

Does he have any other Bollywood projects that are coming up? “There’s a movie called Tehran with John Abraham, which we shot in Scotland and parts of India,” he says. “I expect it to release soon.”

The way things work

Are Indian movies and series shot very efficiently, given that they are supported by big budgets? He tells me, “People often talk about budgets but, more than that, it’s about exposure. If you’ve worked in a certain way, then you’ll want to train your staff to also work the same way.

“There was a movie called Bheja Fry, which wasn’t a big budget movie but managed to make a huge profit. The makers decided to create a sequel, invested a big budget into it and the movie did not do well at the box office, because the narrative was not compelling. So, it isn’t really about the money — it’s about the producers and directors who are the captains of the ship and their personalities reflect on how the set operates.”

I broach tricky territory: how does a set operate in Pakistan? Alyy decides to give me an example: “I was supposed to shoot a commercial in Lahore and, for three days, the team kept coordinating with me for the suit that I was supposed to wear. I sent in my measurements but they said that the tailor would come personally to meet me. I took out the time and the tailor came and took my measurements for half-an-hour.

They told me that I would get the suit as soon as I took the flight to Lahore and checked into my hotel. I got to my hotel, the suit wasn’t there. They told me that I would get it the next morning on set. When I came on set, the suit did not fit at all!” He shrugs.

“There are so many times when ad filmmakers tell us to come at five in the morning because they want to catch the ‘magic light’. When you actually get there, forget the magic light — time will be wasted on figuring out the music, drinking energy drinks, with people from different agencies getting confused as they work together. It’s a waste of time.

“The TV industry works the same way. On paper, you’re supposed to shoot for 25 days, but the actual filming gets stretched out to 50 days because things don’t get executed with efficiency. Work spills over and you end up sometimes working on three projects simultaneously.

“When the drama Mere Humsafar was being shot, I was scheduled to leave for shootings in India. My scenes didn’t get filmed on time and so I ended up getting my solo scenes filmed every time I would return to Pakistan for even two days. They had to manage.”

He continues, “There is a need for more exposure, more education, a lot of things but, having said that, there is a method to the madness. Look at the millions of views Pakistani dramas manage to get on YouTube. The narrative is obviously resonating with the audience on some level.

“I was working in India last year on three different projects while Mere Humsafar was airing, in which I play Hania Aamir’s father. Everywhere I went, people would ask me for selfies, exclaiming that I was Hala’s father. I initially got confused: Hala, who? Then they told me that they were watching Mere Humsafar, waiting avidly for the next episode every week. Pakistani dramas are not just ordinary hits, they are sensational hits. We’re obviously doing something right.

“I personally feel that the people working in Pakistan’s entertainment industry — not just the actors, but everyone in the creative business — are extremely talented and they should all get the chance to work, not just in India but around the world.”

I observe that a lot of Pakistani actors don’t feel motivated towards working locally once they have experienced the higher pays abroad. Has he ever felt the disinclination to continue working in Pakistan?

“Not at all,” he professes, “but my efforts continue in trying to do more quality work as opposed to quantity. I love being on set — I would not want to refuse to work in a project just because I’ve just done a major Hollywood or Bollywood film.”

Does it irk him when controversy ends up taking focus away from the actual content in a show or a film? For instance, when The Trial was talked about avidly because of the kiss featured in it or when Haadsa, a drama in which he had acted, was taken off air for some time while its content was reevaluated?

“I believe in doing my work, promoting it if required, but I don’t get emotional about it. I won’t take to social media and start expressing my opinion. I keep a low profile on social media, preferring to let my work do the talking.”

Thirty years, some exemplary roles, a repertoire teeming with top-tier projects and a passion that keeps him going, always. His work, like Alyy Khan himself, talks quite eloquently.

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 14th, 2024