People love to gossip and I let them gossip: Kinza Hashmi
Actors Sami Khan and Kinza Hashmi recently made an appearance on Time Out with Ahsan Khan, sharing details about their work in the television and film industry. Sami, who has been active on the entertainment scene since the early 2000s sat down with his Mohlat co-star Kinza, a relatively new face in the industry, to discuss the inner workings of the entertainment world.
The Kaaf Kangana actor revealed that ‘Sami’ is not his birth name. The change came with his foray into the world of film, explained Sami. He shared, “Mansoor Aslam Khan Niazi is my real name, on all my documents. The change happened when I signed my film Salakhain, I figured if we were going to do a film I might as well change my name. People would get ‘Mansoor’ wrong. Some people would call me ‘Manzoor’ and that would annoy me. I wanted something a bit more catchy. I got the option of ‘Sami’ and I figured, why not? I had a friend whose name was Samiullah Khan Niazi, and I really liked it.”
Speaking of her advent into acting, Kinza revealed, “I wanted to be an actor since I was a child. But when I got older, people told me I had a nice voice so I should get into singing. My mother used to say that. But then when I started acting, I forgot all about singing because this is what I really want to do. I enjoy it a lot. Playing different characters is so cathartic.”
The actor elaborated on the characters she enjoyed playing the most, with her negative role in Mohlat taking the top spot. “Negative roles are so much fun. I don’t want characters that mope around all the time. I’d like to play more negative characters.” She added later, “I really wanted to play a completely negative character, and I got to do that in Mohlat. I’ll need to think about what kind of character I’d like to play in the future apart from that.”
Sami explained that Mohlat is actually his first time working with veteran actor Bushra Ansari. “This is my first time working with Bushra Ansari. There’s so much I have learned from her. She guides you a lot when it comes to the tiny details of acting when you’re doing a scene with her,” he shared.
On the topic of inspiration, Kinza revealed that she has always looked up to Madam Noor Jehan. The Mor Mahal actor said, “Madam Noor Jahan is my favourite singer. My mother used to listen to her songs a lot, and the way she’d talk about her made me think about how much respect and love people give you in this field. So all those things inspired me in one way or another. I can’t sing like her but I enjoy singing her songs.”
When asked about whether he felt the pressure to quit TV in order to do more films, Sami explained that that was not the case. The Wrong No. 2 actor elaborated, “I don’t think you have to pick and choose between TV and film. This really isn’t an issue internationally. If you take the example of Henry Cavil, he plays Superman on the big screen, but he also plays the Witcher on Netflix. We’ve created confusion for no reason. If I get a good opportunity from theatre, film or TV, I’d accept it regardless of the medium.”
On how the industry has changed over the years, Sami reflected, “I can’t say any particular period was better for dramas. Things change with time and TV dramas have evolved as well as films. I’m lucky that I got to work both with Lollywood and our new-age cinema.”
Questioned about how she deals with rumours and social media gossip, Kinza explained that she does not let the chatter get to her. “I just laugh at these things and end up ignoring them. I have no answers to the rumours and speculations. I’m here to work and will continue working. People will probably pick things out of this interview as well and frame them out of context. So I don’t take the opinion of the people who don’t matter seriously.”
Sami, when speaking about the recent incident of a guard firing at crew filming at a residential building, questioned where society’s patience had gone. “The crew members were having lunch and the guard had a negative attitude towards them. They got into a scuffle and the guard ended up shooting. It was an AK-47, and he shot it at the ground. The bullet ricocheted off the marble but thankfully didn’t hit anyone. The pieces of marble caused a lot of injuries though. One person had to stay in the hospital for two to three days. I don’t understand where society’s patience has gone,” he shared.
The actor added further, “You need to evaluate who you’re giving the gun to. It’s not the gun, it’s the person behind the gun that matters, so you need to be careful when it comes to these things.”