You can’t grow as an actor by only playing positive roles: Armeena Khan

Actor and social media personality Armeena Khan in her latest interview with the BBC, detailed her comeback to television and why she took up such a ‘negative’ character to mark her return.

To clarify why she decided to return to the small screen in the first place, the Janaan actor said “I have always preferred doing films over television serials, there’s nothing new about that. But drama is an essential part of the media industry and to not do dramas, is an injustice to one’s self.”

But why did she prefer playing a negative character to mark her return? “You can’t grow as an actor by only playing positive roles,” remarked Armeena. “If the role is the same as one you’ve played before, no matter how much you try, you will be able to bring very little variation in your acting,” she added.

Armeena then detailed the stagnation and boredom she felt by always playing the good girl. But instead of playing an outright crass character to break that image, she relayed how she wanted to do something in the line of female empowerment which is also progressive.

However, as many would note, her comeback character is not in line with what she aimed for. “The problem is, there are very few scripts like that out there and the competition for them is very tough. And because I don’t live here, I often lose that battle,” sighed Armeena.

So she recalled when she was offered the character of Taara in Mohabbatein Chahatein, at least it was poles apart from what she had done before, which led her to accept it. “It’s a thorough negative and dirty character. But with so many layers to it, that as an actor, it was a challenge for me,” Armeena pointed out.

“Because when people look at me, they naturally associate me with innocence or positivity,” she said, hinting at the stereotypes the film and television industries follow around the world when casting according to character. Through the media, these stereotypes are then reinstated, making the viewer subconsciously believe that particular appearances define whether a person is good or evil.

She then went on, “I wanted to do this, because as an actor, you also tap into the many layers of yourself by playing a character. And I learned so many things by playing this role.”

The Sherdil actor also revealed that she has launched her own production house, under the banner of which, she is already producing an international short film titled Snapshot, starring Turkish actors. “I wasn’t getting challenging roles myself, so I figured, let’s launch my own production house,” remarked Armeena.

“With this, I wanted to tell the stories that weren’t being told. I wanted to also use my production house to launch new talent because there is so much of it out there. I’m not saying that I’ll solve all the problems, but I do want to make a positive contribution,” concluded the starlet.

Watch the interview here:

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