“It wasn’t that I didn’t have film offers,” says Saba Qamar when asked why she waited so long to make a debut in films. “In fact, I had many from home and abroad. The lack of ‘quality’ films in Pakistan was one of the reasons why I stayed away. I couldn’t have done the kind of films that were being produced by the Gujjars and doodhwallas as that would have been below my level. I was waiting for a good script and a good director which I finally got in Lahore Se Aagey.”

The actress’ debut film, Lahore Se Aagey (LSA) is a sequel of a Pakistani film (Karachi Se Lahore) and the first film in which both Yasir Hussain and Saba Qamar are playing the lead role.

“People haven’t seen me dance, nor have they seen me in the kind of outfits I’ve worn in this film,” she adds excitedly, “They’re in for a surprise. I’m glad that I got a good director [Wajahat Rauf], good songs [Shiraz Uppal] and a good co-star [Yasir Hussain] — everything that I had hoped to find in my debut flick.”

In her new film, Saba plays a musician and it was a role she had to learn new skills for. “It was Wajahat who taught me how to play a guitar,” she says, “The mannerisms of playing the instrument and how to deliver dialogues for a film which is a different medium altogether from television. We used to discuss everything before the shooting and that’s the reason I never felt like an outsider on the sets and locations. As for the dancing and performing on songs, I enjoyed it all thoroughly!”

The Maat girl who began her career more than a decade ago on television vows to raise the bar, starting with Lahore Se Aagay (LSA) which is releasing later this month

This isn’t the first time Saba has tried working in films, but it will be the first time a film she has worked in will be shown on cinema screens. A few years ago she had appeared in the trailer of Hamza Ali Abbasi’s Kambakht and also in Azeem Sajjad’s 8969. “First things first,” she starts, “I don’t think Hamza is interested in releasing Kambakht anymore as it was shot a long time back and if released, it might look awkward as a lot of things have changed.”

“As for Azeem Sajjad’s project, it was not a film but a tele-film and I was conned into doing it because he was a family friend and claimed that his heroine had disappeared,” she says. A music video from the film was released showing Saba doing an ‘item number’ on a shoddy set with bad choreography. “He [Azeem Sajjad] told me that the song will be shot in a ‘royal’ manner with a huge set, limousines, foreign dancers and what not but when I went on the set, it resembled a second-grade stage,” she continues. “Despite my reservations, I went ahead with the badly-choreographed number which he promised to scrap once the producer had left. It was probably the biggest mistake of my career and the worst experience so far. But what was more hurtful were the statements by both of his wives who blasted me to save their egotistical husband from embarrassment.”

Then there is this ‘other’ film in which Saba is working with an international star. “Oh yes, Irrfan Khan is an amazing actor who is both focused and funny on the set,” Saba says as she talks about her film Hindi Medium, the shooting of which wrapped up last month in India. “I was [treated with] respect as a Pakistani actress by the cast and crew and found Amrita Singh, Sanjay Suri, Neha Dhupia to be thorough professionals. They are very humble and referred to each other with ‘aap’ and ‘janab.’ I once had to ask Irrfan to stop calling me ‘ma’am’ because I was his fan before being his co-star and the respect he was giving me was too much to handle.”

Unlike her colleagues, Saba Qamar hasn’t entirely left television for films. “Television is as much a part of my journey as films,” she says, “I have learnt that you are not that self-conscious on television as you are in films. In the latter, you are being shown on the large screen and everything from head to toe is under scrutiny. At first I was scared of doing films but I didn’t find it to be all that bad.”

The actress also blames the chase for television ratings for the monotony that is gradually killing off experimentation on the small screen. “It’s wrong to say that people don’t come up with new concepts on TV because I myself have been part of a handful of serials that have dared to challenge the norm,” she asserts. “Ullu Baraye Farokht Nahi was a brilliant play in my opinion but due to bad TRPs, it was moved to 9pm from its original 8pm slot, and that too after a few episodes. Sannata was intense but couldn’t do well despite having the potential to go places. Why would a producer want to be different when a project would yield [financial] loss? Main Sitara is doing well because the channel doesn’t care about ratings and people love it for being different. It is time we should do away with the story of two sisters, brother-sister or plays that revolve around a bhabi and her family.”

Television aside, the actress seems to have her eyes set firmly on films in the near future. “I have three to four wonderful film scripts which I’m considering,” she says proudly, “because in a film you have the margin to perform and experiment with looks and acting.”

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 6th, 2016