Mahira Khan is a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry with a number of hit roles to her credit, including a Bollywood hit alongside Shahrukh Khan. Now, the actor is ready to wear the producer's hat.
The 36-year-old star, who announced the establishment of her own production house titled Soul Fry Films on February1, recently opened up about her debut production Baarwan Khiladi for which she is partnering with Nina Kashif from Tapmad, a local streaming platform.
Talking to the Gulf News about dipping her toes into production, Khan said, "I’ve always been inclined to getting behind the camera, always wanted to direct or produce."
"It’s very small at the moment. I want to get my hands dirty with smaller projects first, make stories that get me excited," she added.
When asked why she opted for Tapmad to stream her debut web series instead of platforms like ZEE5 and Amazon Prime, Khan questioned, "Why not Tapmad?"
"I wanted my first to be on a Pakistani platform. I would love to produce for Zee or Amazon or Netflix, but I also feel we need to empower our local OTT platforms. Hopefully, this will start a trend of local content being made for local online platforms," she explained.
According to Khan's description, Baarwan Khiladi is a coming of age story […] about friendships, relationships, unity, failure, success, love, and courage."
"I have to admit — I’m not a sports fan at all, so I could have never imagined wanting to make my first series about that," she confessed, adding, "But when I heard the story and read the script, it got me excited. Also working with younger/newer people was something that I really wanted to do — be it the actors or the writer or the art director etc."
The series stars Danyal Zafar and Kinza Hashmi in leading roles, along with model Zarrar Khan, vlogger Shahveer Jafry, model Meer Yousuf, and content creator Khaqan Shahnawaz. The supporting cast includes Sarmad Khoosat, Mira Sethi, and Saba Faisal.
Talking about the casting, Mahira shared she was completely involved in the process. "Nina got both Shahveer [Jafry] and Danyal [Zafar] on board. We got everyone to audition for most of the parts," the actor divulged. "Sarmad [Khoosat] was a huge bonus because he is one of the main characters. I got Kinza Hashmi on board. That’s the fun of being the producer — you can put together a team that will enhance your vision for the project."
Despite it being her own production, Khan also confirmed that she will not be seen in it. "You know, I might be the only actor whose first project does not have themselves in it! And maybe that’s a bad ‘marketing move,’ but I don’t look at it that way. There wasn’t a role that suited me. Maybe if I was younger I would have played a character in it. Kinza Hashmi has a very cool part. I made sure the girl’s character is something I want to see on screen! I hope my fans enjoy the series because of that."
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