PESHAAWAR: Noted TV artist Nazia Ali has decided to stage a comeback after 15 years long absence, expressing the hope that she will spare time to come up to the expectations of her fans in the altogether changed showbiz scenario.

She launched her acting career in 1996 from Peshawar centre of Pakistan Television (PTV). She remained on TV screen till 2009 but quit showbiz due to marriage and tight job schedule.

The artist performed in about 100 Pashto and Urdu plays and played out lead characters mostly tragedy dramas, earning a widespread fame owing to her delivery of dialogues and serious facial expressions. She grabbed several awards for her quality performances on PTV.

“I want to do projects with PTV despite the changed landscape. I am determined to pursue my career once again provided that I could get projects with stress on quality contents. I don’t want to work for social media,” said Ms Alithe actress stated.

Nazia Ali optimistic to get attention of her fans

Acting was like oxygen for me and after quitting showbiz, I felt being caged as the actress within me wanted to break the shackles and rejoined my acting career after 15 years long break, the artist recalled. The decision to quit my acting career was tough but my family responsibilities and office work forced me to call it a day, years ago, she added.

Ms Nazia told this scribe that she even changed her contact numbers and glided into a complete hibernation but of late sliced out time for social media to watch clips of her old TV plays and it rekindled a spark in her to revisit her decision and rejoined her once favourite showbiz career.

“During all this time, I felt as if I was imprisoned in a cage and at times even sensed being chocked. Watching my old clips of TV plays on social media once again dragged me into my past and at last the nostalgia sparked a spirit within me to rethink comeback,” she stated.

The artist said though much water had gone under the bridge yet she hoped that she would reclaim her fans’ attention through the strength of mature drama role. She said that comedy role was not her forte and seasoned former producers including Masood Ahmad Shah, Ejaz Ahmad Niaz and Jahanzeb Suhail had made her perform well.

“Playwrights like late Mohammad Azam and Noorul Bashar Naveed were my favourite writers. Script and storylines written by them were true reflection of our society. I still cherished their vision and mastery over TV play,” the artist recalled.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2024