Truth be told, I never wanted to act: Rabia Butt

Model-actor Rabia Butt to take up few more projects before quitting the entertainment industry, for good this time

LAHORE: Not long ago, news of the dusky model Rabia Butt hanging up her boots for good was the talk of the town. Few could explain why the two-time Lux Style Award winning supermodel was doing it despite being at the peak of her career. While the hearsay wasn’t entirely inaccurate, it was still blown out of proportion.

With her silver screen debut and countless modelling assignments already behind her back, the diva is still very much in the game. “I work sometimes. Other times, I don’t,” she told The Express Tribune. Last seen shooting for Sapphire in the Indian city of Jaipur and also in the music video of Quratulain Balouch’s Saaiyaan, Butt is considering two film projects and a drama serial these days. “I never considered them before because I wanted Hijrat to come out.”

Even though it did not take long for the Farooq Mengal film to fall on its face on the box office, Butt seemingly has no regrets over taking it up. “It was an experience that taught me a lot about films, the people who work in them and how I can fit in that world,” she explained.

After a brief pause, she continued, “Truth be told, I never wanted to act and even wanted to quit modelling.” Before we could frame the inconsistency into a follow-up question, she added, “My heart and mind are always in a conflict. When my mind wins, I work and when my heart does, I don’t. I think I will do a few more projects and then stop.”

Butt’s mother passed away six years ago, and ever since, she has been unable to overcome this internal conflict. The death left Butt in-charge of her three younger sisters, forcing her to begin thinking about a lot of things that she wasn’t, earlier. “I have to be careful about what I do because they look up to me and would want to do the same. I can’t say one thing and preach another,” she said.

Perhaps these sensibilities also took root in her considering the nature of work she has been involved in. “Don’t come to me for my beauty, come to me for my acting,” she said, adding, “I don’t want to be an object in films. If that’s what I wanted to do, modelling was fine for me,” she said.

Continuing on the same note, she added, “I don’t wear revealing clothes anymore. The designers who know me understand that and give me clothes that fully cover me. I was so covered in Hijrat that people joked about it.” For those who did, she said, “There is a shot where I am bathing and my arms are showing. Go watch that.”

The two films she is currently considering include a comedy and a more serious one. “I consider myself a funny person but not one who can make jokes about every other thing. My humour is more intelligent than that.” Perhaps that’s where her rather mysterious Twitter and Instagram posts come from. Obviously a thinker, Butt shares little nuggets about life with fans across social media but unfortunately most of them are too obscure for casual consumption.

Butt will also take to the ramp, once again, at the upcoming PLBW in Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2016.

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