I’d love to play Altaf Hussain in a biopic: Ali Rehman Khan

From ‘Janaan’ to ‘Parchi’, the actor discusses his voyage into showbiz

KARACHI: Ali Rehman Khan’s rise as a film star has been nothing less than interesting. If there’s one constant in his career so far, it’s him changing perceptions of what he can do as an actor. With a background in theatre, he was considered not able to perform comic roles. He changed that with his first film, Janaan, which released last year. Now he prepares for his upcoming film, Parchi, where he is set to play the exact opposite of his character in Janaan.

Khan spoke with The Express Tribune about his character, Bash, in Parchi and his journey since Janaan. “Bash is a very street-smart character and a lot of things in the film happen because of him. He’s a serious character, not funny at all,” he said. “In Janaan, I was the comic relief but in Parchi, I’m not. He’s witty, realistic and he knows how to get things done and get himself out of the mix every time.”
Khan admits that comedy is more difficult than playing a serious character. “You have to have a certain sense of comic timing and make people laugh. You have to have a certain universal flair for humour and understanding what people may like,” he shared. “But once you’re there, you can do serious characters and still pull it off. It’s still tough though because what I did in Janaan is completely different from Bash is. In the former, he’s completely outward and animated and over the top. Bash in the complete opposite.”

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The Diyar-e-Dil actor spoke highly of his debut film as well. “Janaan will always be my first film so it has a big place in my heart because it changed the perception that I can’t do comedy. It made me a film star. I’ll always hold it dear to my heart.”

He continued, “In the last one year, people have started recognizing me from Janaan. Before that, people recognised me from Diyar-e-Dil. And that, for me, is a big improvement because I was not the central character in the film, Bilal Ashraf was. I was the comic relief, and to be able to be noticed and get that star status, it was an achievement for me because I think there was something in me or my talent that really stuck with people. They really liked my performance. That was the most satisfying part for me.”

PHOTO:FILE

As someone who is passionate about his craft, Khan’s evolution as an actor is equally necessary. He shared he would love to explore different kinds of characters. “I’d love to do a lot of different roles but people have to write those kinds of roles. Right now, there isn’t a huge diversity of characters being written for our films. I’d like to do a biopic of Altaf Hussain. I don’t know if, even with prosthetics, I’d look like him, but I’d love to play Altaf Hussain. And not just the old him, the young Altaf. I don’t want to be all political but I’d love to play characters like that.”

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