Many actors and actresses worldwide have started off in their respective fields at a young age and have gone ahead to attain super stardom. Similarly, the 15-year-old Saleha Aref, who plays the title role in Afia Nathaniel’s recently released Dukhtar, started acting on PTV with Sim Sim Hamara, the Pakistan version of the hit children’s TV series Sesame Street, when she was 12.

“I had a lot of fun shooting for it, even though I was scolded a lot because everyone was much older than me. I used to cry, get scolded and would cry even more,” Saleha said, reminiscing about her experience during Sim Sim Hamara.

In the midst of enjoying the release of her debut film, collecting laurels for her performance and attending numerous promotional events, I managed to pull her away for a chit chat. The first thing I asked her was how she felt now that Dukhtar was out.

While everybody around her raves about her acting talent, all Saleha wants for now is to remain an ordinary girl and live a normal life

“I feel amazing. I’m so excited,” she said with her pretty face and voice brimming with excitement, and a sparkle in her eyes.

In Dukhtar, Saleha plays Zainab, a 10-year-old girl living with her family in the mountainous area of Northern Pakistan, whose father plans to wed her off to a rival tribe’s leader to settle a dispute. Clinching the part wasn’t much of a struggle for the child artist.

Her acting career began with a print ad for a local kids’ wear fashion label. Later, it was her mother’s friend who suggested she audition for Sim Sim Hamara. And it was that break which led to Dukhtar.

“The entire team was very helpful and supportive. Mohib uncle and Samiya ma’am became my really good friends. We used to have a lot of fun once the shoot would wrap up by playing games and singing songs.”

“The editor of Sim Sim Hamara was the cameraman and editor of Dukhtar also. He suggested I audition for the part. There were many other girls who had appeared for the test and one had already been chosen, but they still took my test. And I was eventually selected,” she says.

Saleha told me how scared she was before shooting started, “I didn’t know much since this was my first film. I thought I’d be scolded if I did something wrong.

“But thankfully nothing like that happened. The entire team was very helpful and supportive. Mohib uncle and Samiya ma’am became my really good friends. We used to have a lot of fun once the shoot would wrap up by playing games and singing songs. I loved every minute of it.”

The film has been shot entirely in the mountains of Skardu, Hunza, Gilgit, Ghizer and Kallar Kahar, but Saleha did not travel unaccompanied. “Even though Baba was with me during the entire shoot, I used to miss my mom and cry a lot. I would not talk to her on the phone because I would get emotional. I wrote her a letter from there telling her about the shoot and sent her two leaves with it, which she still has.”

After shooting wrapped up, Saleha was offered her first TVC last Ramazan. The make-up artists for the film asked her to audition for the ad, and she bagged the part almost immediately.

Having said that, it’s not uncommon for a lot of Pakistani families to discourage their daughters from taking up acting or appearing on TV. Saleha also faced such resistance, but not for long. “My Nana and Nani didn’t like it. But they were alright once they saw the promo and were excited. Mama had read the script as it was too long for me and then told me about it. Both Mama and Baba loved it, met the team and told me to do the film. They remained extremely supportive throughout.”

Dukhtar was screened at the recent edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. But unfortunately Saleha couldn’t make it as her brother did not get a visa and her parents could not send her alone. “I was really excited that it was screened at TIFF and that more and more people will get to know me as a child artist,” she said excitedly.

“My brother tells me I have already become a celebrity, but I don’t think so. I don’t like to think of myself as such. I am and want to remain an ordinary girl. Even at the red carpet premiere of Dukhtar, people were taking my pictures, while I was busy taking others’ pictures. I won’t let fame affect me or act arrogant,” she says firmly.

In her spare time and at home, Saleha is like any other teenager. She loves listening to music, watching TV, spending time with her friends and family, and browsing online. She also says she tries not to let her shooting spells affect her studies.

“Both the ad and TV show were shot after school. For the film, I had to take a special leave as it was all out of town. But Mama would get photocopies of all the class work and notes from my teachers and brief me later. This way, I wasn’t clueless when I returned to the classroom,” she said about not letting acting hamper her studies.

The future looks quite promising for Saleha, as she has garnered the most praise for the film out of the entire cast. She does plan on continuing acting, but only if it doesn’t disturb her studies.

“I did have an offer for a TV drama after Dukhtar. Fawad Khan was also a part of it. But I had to refuse as the shooting hours were clashing with my school timings.”

With her acting talent getting positive reviews from film critics, Saleha Aref has a bright future ahead of her as a TV or film artist. It now remains to be seen how that talent is honed and channelled in the right direction.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 28th, 2014