There’s definitely something about Ahsan Afzal Khan. Truly gifted, this blue-blooded, rising young actor has instantaneously risen to fame by dint of his sterling performances in TV dramas.

As a graduate of a prestigious university, his normal career trajectory would have been in the corporate world. But he yearned to explore more personally fulfilling horizons. And now, as an actor, he feels he has indeed found his true calling in life.

Sensitive to the core of his very being, as every performer must be, he believes in standing on his own merit. This is something that will hold him in good stead in life’s long run. Excerpts from Icon’s brief chat with him…

Being a Lums grad, why choose showbiz over anything else?

Ahsan Afzal Khan: After graduating from Lums, I started to work in the corporate sector, which served as a self-awakening that I wanted to do something artistic with my life. I want to evoke emotions amongst people which would not have been possible while working in an office, or while marketing some commodity. My biggest source of happiness has always been to make people be able to feel, and to help them understand themselves. That’s how I realised that what I really wanted was to be an actor.

You have appeared in Pehli Mohabbat, Heer Da Hero, Bewa. Tell us something about your characters in each?

Ahsan Afzal Khan has a celebrity acting lineage he doesn’t want to talk about. He wants to be known for himself and his own work. And by the evidence on hand, from his acting stints on television that have propelled him to fame, there’s enough for him to talk about…

AAK: A romantic lover, a comic relief and a green flag-lover [patriot]. Bewa made me mature. Heer Da Hero made me enjoy life as it was my debut and everyone around pampered me no end. I learnt a lot from there. Pehli Mohabbat was very close to me. It was my vision on what true love actually looks like. Straight and simple.

What attracts you most: acting or modelling?

AAK: Acting in good roles and conceptual modelling.

Which international celebrities inspire you in the realm of acting?

AAK: I have loved Tom Cruise since I was a kid. I used to watch his movies the entire night till dawn during summer vacations.

What about films? What kind of roles are you looking out for?

AAK: I would love to have my acting abilities be pushed and tested to the limit. I want to play all sorts of characters, but my favourite would be layered characters with some depth in their personality, which is gradually revealed along the duration of the film.

Singing also sounds like a good alternative these days for actors. Who do you listen to mostly?

AAK: I love to sing but only when I’m by myself. I sing when I’m happy!

Describe your sense of style and fashion?

AAK: I like wearing contrasts, monochromatic looks, relaxed fits, old money styles, and leather jackets in the winters. Colours that are refreshing to look at, such as beige, white and sky blue. My fashion sense in one line is: “refreshing to look at.”

Words you live by?

AAK: Optimism is the only way to live one’s life, everything else is mere survival.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 29th, 2024