Sarwat Gilani
Playing Fahad Mustafa’s romantic interest, she says that both characters fell in love because they were good-looking people.
That’s a pretty superficial idea of romance, I tell Hocane. In fact, it harks back to 1980-90s Bollywood, where characters got bit by the love bug because they were good-looking.
“The more typical something is the better,” she replies. Instead of trying our hand at something different [and not succeeding], we end up being wannabe different.
“One thing that makes me happy and satisfied about Nadeem Baig is that he doesn’t try too hard. He gives you the typical, but it’s garnished in such a way that everyone wants to watch it.”
Next up is Kubra Khan, JPNA2’s leading lady. “Selina [her character] is a sort of a happy-go-lucky, tomboy-ish girl who is very ambitious,” Khan tells me.
The word ‘ambitious’ catches me off guard.
“Ambitious in the sense that [I believe] everyone finds comfort in their particular bubble. She, on the other hand, has the will to break out of hers,” Khan explains.
“The more you see her, the more you understand her. When you see me in the first shot, you’re going to go — oh great, she’s like that! — and then you’re going to see me again, and go “Oh!” So she keeps developing as a character.”
Like Fahad Mustafa, Khan is also appearing in two movies on the same release date — Parwaaz Hai Junoon and JPNA2. But unlike Mustafa, she clarifies that she only has a cameo in the former.
Speaking of Mustafa, the actor looks as tired as Ahmed Ali Butt. I doubt that I look any better because I have been on the JPNA2 set for seven hours now.
In his aloof tone, Mustafa tells me that “characters are more or less the same in every movie. It’s just how you present them.” The actor then expressly makes it clear that he’s not going to define his character.
“It’s a good thing that people are confused by his presence,” he tells me.
The role, whether good or bad, was a deliberate call and Mustafa knew from day one that both of his movies — JPNA2 and Load Wedding — would be competitors at Eidul Azha.
“If people think that Humayun is a success, or that I am a success, they’re wrong. Nadeem Baig and Nabeel Qureshi [the director of Load Wedding] are the ones who are successful,” he says.
“It’s a fun film. The hero is Humayun Saeed and everyone else is a supporting character. Keeping me and Humayun aside, I think you’ll be surprised when supporting characters [played by] Sarwat, Sohail Ahmed and Ahmed Ali Butt steal the film from us.
“For all the right reasons, to be a part of such a prestigious product, I guess, is a big thing by itself,” Mustafa says. “As you can see there are no egos on the JPNA2 set. No one has their own separate room. We’re all in this together.”
As long as this camaraderie lasts, it seems Jawani will keep returning.
Published in Dawn, ICON, August 5th, 2018