‘Male characters accessory to plot in Pakistani serials’

Junaid Khan talks about lack of diversity on TV, future of Call’s upcoming album

KARACHI:

While actor- musician Junaid Khan has been juggling between a music career as a solo artist and life with his band, Call, he has simultaneously managed to amass a sizeable body of work on television. Between the disbandment and reunion of his band, he has gained ground as an actor. Calling himself a musician first, the Sub Bhula Ke vocalist speaks about his latest acting projects and Call’s upcoming album.

He is currently shooting in his hometown Lahore for Syed Wajahat Hussain’s drama serial Marzi. With an ensemble cast of Rabab Hashim, Junaid Khan, Jana Malik, Simi Raheal, Babar Ali, Abdullah Ejaz, and Naija Beyg, the play seems like a promising opportunity to Khan. “I liked that it was being shot in Lahore but more than that I liked the fact that it was a male centric story because television in Pakistan caters mostly to women. This role is more appealing because generally male characters are more of an accessory to the plot in Pakistani serials,” says Khan who will be essaying the role of a struggling musician in the serial.



On the same note, Khan feels men don’t get to play roles that have more depth to them. “I would personally like to do comedy or action and perhaps even explore options in Pakistani cinema, as films can have more male-centric storylines.” Although, he has not done any movies yet, he has been going over a few scripts. “I’ve gotten offers but I’m really conscious about the right script and I’ll do the film only if it suits my style.” His play Dil-e-Bekarar with Hareem Farooq, Mansha Pasha, Ahsan Balaj, Qaz Wajid and Marium Effendi is on air presently.

Khan also has his hands full on the music front. He has not only composed the original soundtrack for Marzi but will also be a part of an international collaboration in the year ahead.  “I’m always on the lookout for interesting collaborations with vocalists and musicians.”



Along with his band members, Xulfi and Sultan Raja, Khan began working on an album soon after their reunion in August 2015. The trio revealed they will release some tracks followed by an album, as has remained their format. “I was occupied with a few acting projects and Xulfi was busy with Nescafé Basement,” mentions Khan, adding that coming out with the new album will be a slow process.  “We have always released a few singles and then an album. We like people to listen to each and every song as a single because some songs get ignored on the album sometimes.”

Interestingly, the sound of their forthcoming album will be a lot similar to that of their first album, Jilawatan. “We will be going back to our roots with rock music and the music we loved in the beginning [of our careers]. We did go slightly commercial in the middle and we loved that too but our core has always been alternative rock.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2016.

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