Everybody seems to like Umer Aalam.

Veteran actors and directors who have worked with him describe him as ‘hardworking’. ‘It’ stars pose with him at weekend soirees, and then gamely join him in the fun videos that he occasionally puts out on social media.

He’s here, there, everywhere; on TV and cinema, and on the guest list of celebrity birthdays, weddings and weekend game nights. He is, in fact, so likeable that he emerged as the winner in the first season of Tamasha, the Bigg Boss spin-off reality show launched by ARY Digital last year, winning the maximum number of votes from the audience.

Often, while surfing through Instagram and seeing Umer pop up on my cell phone screen frequently, I have off-handedly wondered what makes him so popular.

When I meet him for the very first time, for this interview, I realise that it is just that he’s so nice. He smiles constantly, talking about his work with a passion that is endearing. If Umer is to be believed, the world of acting is a colourful, ebullient rainbow and, while he may be making the steep uphill climb right now, there is a metaphorical pot of gold surely waiting for him at the end. Such optimism is rare.

Umer is also ever-ready with a self-deprecating one-liner or a funny anecdote. He knows how to keep a conversation interesting and is innately, impulsively entertaining.

You cannot help but fall in love with Umer Aalam’s vibrant,vivacious, fun-loving, colourful and infectious personality.Why does he seem to get along with everyone? Has he really never experienced negativity as a struggling actor?And why is he fi xated on playing hero?

At one point, for instance, he refers to the many side-roles that he has played, declaring, “I have played more than half the industry’s brother!” At another point, while describing his family life, he tells me, “I am the only brother of two lucky sisters!”

Sitting across from Umer, I laughed often.

He is, of course, also very talented.  More than a decade ago, a fortuitous audition in Islamabad, where he used to live with his family, with thespian group Kopykats Productions first introduced him to the world of greasepaint and stage lights.

The acting bug bit him unequivocally and his trysts in theatre have been followed up by consistent work in TV dramas, films and TV game shows. His TV drama repertoire particularly boasts the names of a number of hit dramas, although he has so far been relegated to supporting roles. Even in a side gig, though, Umer tends to be memorable.

Playing Hero

“I just really want to play a hero now,” he confesses. “I want to see how it feels.”

Film hero or TV hero? His reply is prompt: “Film!”

But why, given film’s fluctuating hold over the box office? “I think all actors get inspired by film. Cinema is larger than life and we grow up idolising film heroes, not TV drama heroes. I just want to play an action hero in a movie.”

He adds, grinning, “I have even started watching action hero clips on Instagram in order to get an idea.”

I find this very funny. Shouldn’t he be working with a trainer instead of making do with Instagram? “Yes, yes, I just enjoy seeing the moves and then, when the time comes, I’ll practise with a proper team. In my upcoming movie Taxali, there is an action scene that I got so lost in that I ended up hurting myself as well as my co-actor!”

Is it necessary to play the hero, though, I ask, recalling his recent role in the movie Carma where he made a very convincing villain. “I enjoy playing the villain,” says Umer, “because it gives me margin to perform. Just wait and see — I’ll play all sorts of villains in the future. But right now, I just want to play the hero.”

It’s obvious that he’s tired of playing the side-roles that he has often been seen in, in dramas. Was he getting typecast?

“Yes, and there’s a very thin line that you can’t cross, or else the audience will never accept you in a title role,” he says. “I have started thinking very carefully over the scripts that I sign on to. I have refused roles where I am playing the hero’s friend and I have been asking directors to cast me in title roles instead. I understand that they may not want to cast me as the lead, but I could be the second or the third lead. My character could at least have a track!”

What benefits has he derived from being cast in major dramas in the past, albeit as a supporting character? He shrugs, stating the obvious: “I got the chance to work with major directors and people who were interested in seeing their work ended up seeing my work too. People became familiar with my work and, while they may not have thought that I was brilliant, they at least accepted that I had promise.”

I pose a somewhat irrelevant question which has, nevertheless, often intrigued me: what benefit has he derived from being a regular in the weekend get-togethers that take place at director Wajahat Rauf’s home, and which usually tend to be featured all over social media?

Umer laughs. “You get to eat good food and listen to good music! Also, you get to meet a lot of people that perhaps would not have been as comfortable with you if you had met them outside somewhere.

“The set is my happy place. I am excited about going the excited about starting a new class in school. Even when I am done with my shooting for the day, I am in no hurry to leave for home. If my co-actors ask me to stay back for a while, I’ll do so and we’ll just hang about, talking,making jokes.”

“And yes, you might get to work with Wajahat bhai but I don’t think that’s always connected to spending time in his home. I have known him since 2018, and I may have acted in small roles in his dramas, but it is only now, in his drama Guru, that I’m playing a lead character. I had to prove myself before he cast me.”

I’m curious: how does a new actor get invited to Wajahat Rauf’s house in the first place?

“You go with Yasir bhai,” he refers to actor Yasir Hussain. “I have spent a lot of time with Yasir bhai and I am very thankful for the advice that he’s given me. He is a very positive person, and he has always had a firm belief that whatever work is meant to come his way, it will come without him having to run after it. He tells me to build my career with a similar frame of mind.”

So if he gets confirmed for a role, but then finds out that he has been replaced, he will not be upset?

“Yes, ultimately that role just wasn’t meant for me,” says Umer. “There was a time when I had very little work and would get very upset if I lost out on a project. At one point, I was doing roles that required just one or two days of work and, then, I got to do a serial in which I was hired for eight days.

“I wrapped up my shoot and got braces put in my mouth and, the very next day, the team told me that I had to reshoot certain sequences. I couldn’t do so because of the braces and I had to be replaced. That was tough. But now, I have much more work, so I don’t get disheartened very quickly.”

Playing games

Umer may be fixated with building his image as a hero, but a definite obstacle in his path is his predilection for taking part in game shows.

He shot to fame with the reality show Tamasha and, then, this Ramazan, he was seen daily in a celebrity game show on Express Entertainment. Now, he is about to be seen in The Ultimate Muqabla, ARY Digital’s reality show centred around a group of celebrities and sports personalities taking part in a slew of athletic contests.

I mention this to him and he nods. “Yes, I have to now establish myself as an actor before I participate in more game shows. But being part of Tamasha and then, winning it, really changed my life.”

He elaborates, “Before Tamasha, I would be out somewhere and people would nudge each other and whisper that it seemed like I was an actor. Now, they know me as Umer Aalam, winner of Tamasha, rather than the hero’s brother or the hero’s friend. Tamasha helped me cover three or four years’ struggle that would have been required to get myself recognised. Also, because Tamasha was a reality show, people became familiar with who I am as an individual and, fortunately, they liked me.”

Not all Tamasha participants were so well-liked. Why does he think he managed to click so easily with the audience?

“Sometimes, people just connect with the person that you are, naturally. I didn’t pretend at all when I was taking part in the show and I think that worked well for me.” Was the show scripted at all? “No, it wasn’t and the channel did not tell us to act in any one particular way,” says Umer. “Still, a lot of people’s reactions would be amplified, because they knew that the cameras were on them. They would shout when normally they would just remark about something.

“The audience initially enjoyed the theatrics but, eventually, if you read the comments, they started tiring of them. People who would watch the show on YouTube told me that they would fast-forward the parts where everyone would be screaming at each other unnecessarily.”

He continues: “For me, it all worked out really well. I immediately started getting more work offers and my pay also increased! And to think, I had been about to say no to Tamasha because of date issues!

“I had initially agreed to it but, then, when the time came to set aside a big chunk of time for the show, I felt that my other work would suffer. The channel convinced me that the show would be very beneficial for me and I needed to stay on board — they were right!

“The market for reality shows is huge, even bigger than the market for dramas!” he observes. “People from the industry who don’t follow dramas were following Tamasha avidly, discussing it in so much detail.”

Is that the reason he signed on to The Ultimate Muqabla? “I signed on to it because, firstly, it was being shot in Thailand and I really wanted to go there,” he grins. “Also, during Tamasha, I read a lot of online comments saying that Umer simply jumped about here and there and wasn’t capable of completing any tasks. I wanted to see just how much hot water I was in by being part of a show which was entirely dependent on the completion of some very physical tasks — it turns out that I was in quite a lot of hot water!

“There was so much physical exertion involved in the tasks that I would come back to the hotel and just fall asleep. Then, after resting up, we would all go out and explore. I really liked Phuket. It was very green. I would recommend that people go there.”

You’re turning into a travel guide now, I quip to him. Umer laughs.

“The set is my happy place. I am excited about going to work every day, the way a child gets excited about starting a new class in school. Even when I am done with my shooting for the day, I am in no hurry to leave for home. If my co-actors ask me to stay back for a while, I’ll do so and we’ll just hang about, talking, making jokes.”

Sunshine and happiness

He does seem to have a lot of friends in the industry, from veteran actors to young starlets, seen with him on social media. In a recent, colossally viral video, he made a parody on the hit drama Tere Bin, along with the drama’s lead actor Wahaj Ali.

In another video, he danced with actress Hania Aamir at a wedding. “It is very big-hearted of these actors to make videos with me,” smiles Umer. “Two lead actors working on a project will often make videos together but there is such a vast difference between where they stand professionally and where I stand. Still, I think they are just comfortable with me.”

Why? “Maybe I just talk to them for so long that they end up becoming comfortable with me!” he laughs.  

He must be able to tell when a video he is making will go viral on social media, I comment. “Yes,” he nods. “When I danced with Hania Aamir, I had an idea that a lot of people would see the video and I knew that I should dance well. And really, so many people saw that video, not just in Pakistan but also in India! Our content really has a huge audience in India. This became even more apparent to me when I made the Tere Bin parody video. The response from India was immense!”

He adds, “I have also been advised to not make so many funny videos for now. The audience needs to perceive me as a hero, not as a comedian and I have to be careful. It’s just that, as a person, making jokes comes naturally to me!”

His career experiences seem so hunky dory — has he never experienced politics in the industry, where seniors put down juniors or get their lines eliminated from scenes?

“No,” he professes. “My journey in this industry has just started and I feel that I’m on the right track. Maybe there have been politics and I just didn’t know about it.” He laughs.

“A lot of people come to this industry to become actors but not everyone survives,” he say. “People give up. Fortunately for me, I have people around me who have kept me motivated. Also, I have been able to achieve the short-term goals that I set for myself, which makes me hopeful that, one day, I will be able to meet my long-term goals too.”

I love his positivity. I tell him so. “I hope I stay that way,” he says. “I love what I do. I enjoy myself every day at work.”

Young, sincere, passionate, talented — and very funny. It’s no wonder that the people around him like Umer Aalam so much. How can they not? I’d like to believe that there really is a pot of gold waiting for him at the end of the rainbow.

Published in Dawn, ICON, June 25th, 2023