First person: Reign of the Sheikh
“When I was making Yeh Dil Aapka Huwa (YDAH) in 2000 (released in 2002), I had a vision that would change Pakistani cinema forever. I was hoping that my film would propel a chain reaction that would result in better cinemas, improved technical facilities and the general working environment,” the evergreen actor-director discloses. “YDAH was the first film in DTS format, featured the use of digital camera, had a Ferrari race sequence, was advertised on Panaflex instead of the hand-drawn posters and above all, forever changed the way Pakistani actors stage fight sequences — basically the end of dhishum dhishum. I’m glad to see my efforts bearing fruit as the equipment that is used in Bollywood is now also part of our film industry.”
Apart from being one of the most versatile actors around, Jawed Sheikh is also the most successful and innovative actor-director with hits like Mushkil (1995), Chief Saab (1996) and Yes Boss (1997). Kahin Pyar Na Hojaye (1998) reunited him with Unkahi writer Haseena Moin but the film failed at the box office, as did Mujhe Jeenay Do (1999). It was only with YDAH that the director managed to make a successful comeback after which he directed Khulay Aasman Kay Neeche (2008).
“You will once again see me in action as a director,” Jawed says with a sparkle in his eyes. ‘I am working on my next project and although I will not have the late Amjad Bobby as music director, I’m trying to get the best team together. Wajood will be a different film with a subject that revolves around a very serious matter. I’m confident that it will come out as different as YDAH was at its time.”
For someone who has been around for 40 years in showbiz, Jawed Sheikh shows no sign of slowing down. The film and TV veteran has featured in nearly every second film since Na Maloom Afraad and has a big hand in the revival of films, for it was Yeh Dil Aapka Huwa which sowed the seed of change
Jawed Sheikh the actor feels that one shouldn’t be limited to just a single medium; for someone who made his film debut in the mid-70s with Ibn-i-Safi’s Dhamaka, and then moved on to TV to star in Shama, Unkahi and countless other TV plays, he certainly has the experience to make such a statement. “TV and films are vastly different from each other; each with a different mood. In films we exaggerate fight sequences, the filming of songs is on a different level altogether and even the dramatic scenes are over-the-top, but we can’t do all that on TV due to certain restraints. I’m glad that our films as well as dramas are liked in India and since I spend time there for work, I know it firsthand. Our TV dramas are a craze across the border and many a people have even said that the Indians simply don’t know how to make TV plays.”