Mehwish Hayat certainly knows how to make her presence felt in a room. From starring in Pakistan's arguably biggest blockbuster to bagging a National Award to making headlines - she has done it all. While we haven't seen Hayat onscreen for some time now - thanks to Covid-19 - she has been taking this opportunity to spend time with her loved ones and simply to recuperate.
The Punjab Nahi Jaungi star recently spoke to Gulf News about her upcoming projects, Pakistan's OTT platform and what makes a project tick. There has been a rife debate about why the audience is yet to see original Pakistani content on any noteworthy streaming giant. For Hayat, the answer is very simple: the content is just not good enough.
Elaborating on the same, the Jawani Phir Nahi Ani star shared, "Our content is not good enough. The global audience is far more sophisticated, and our content is too geared for the home market. Not that there is anything wrong with that but what works here does not travel internationally; our storytelling conventions and production aesthetics are too brash and melodramatic."
She also spoke about why Indian shows have been doing well on the OTT. "It is worth noting that even the work from India that has done well on these platforms is a far cry from their regular commercial cinema and TV dramas. The aesthetics and storytelling are very different," Hayat continued.
"It’s not that we cannot do it. If a small country like Korea can top Netflix's global charts, why can’t we? I’ve been watching a lot of international work in the past year, and I am amazed at the simplicity of the productions—it’s not just about having big budgets. However good we may think our work is, I cannot see any of our dramas or films working on these platforms. If we are to have the likes of Netflix and Amazon take Pakistani content, we are going to have to start from scratch with a totally different mindset and be a lot more professional. Our “challay ga” attitude will not wash in a global marketplace," she said.
Talking about her time off, Hayat shared, "The coronavirus lockdown presented me with an ideal opportunity to take a break and spend time with my family. My work had been so full-on during the past few years I’d forgotten the big little pleasures of life—my mother oiling my hair, frying pakoras on a cold day."
She added, "I also realised that I had not gotten around to carrying out even simple renovations and decorating my room. Would you believe that there were so many boxes that still needed unpacking?"
But that's not all the National award-winning star also took the chance to rethink the direction she wanted to pursue career-wise. "Professionally, the lockdown gave me an opportunity to take a really long hard look at my career and see what direction I wanted to take. I’ve been developing projects that I would personally want to do in the coming years," she commented, adding, "The scope of scripts and stories available to actresses in Pakistan is very limited, and the only way stories that matter to me are going to get told is if I do them myself. So, I’ve been working with some incredibly talented people on some amazing projects. I cannot wait to share with the audiences what I’ve been working on."
Hayat also remarked about how cinemas have been shut down since the outbreak of Covid-19. She went on to discuss how long would it take for the audience to return to the theatre.
"The pandemic provided a good opportunity for us to take stock and really rethink where the Pakistani cinema should go from here. There are a few big movies ready to go but I wonder if during the last couple of years the whole dynamic has shifted, and audiences are now more tuned into the vast variety of content available to them in their homes," said the Load Wedding star.
"It’s interesting to see that even in Hollywood the return to cinemas has been slow, and big bankable movies like James Bond’s No Time to Die have not performed at the pre-pandemic levels. So are the movies we have in the pipeline enough to entice audiences back to cinemas—I really don’t know. I sincerely hope they do; it would be a shame to lose all the hard work we’ve put into getting the industry this far," she further added.
Hayat discussed the reasoning behind why we've been seeing her less on the screen - and it has everything to do with how picky she has been while signing a project. "I think I’ve become a lot more mature in my choices lately; I am not just doing roles for the sake of it. That is why I’ve not done any TV dramas since Dillagi. All the roles these days are variations of one theme," she said, adding "How many times can I play the crying bahu, the wronged wife or a woman in a love triangle? I need to be challenged as an actress, and I’ve not seen anything recently that has rocked my boat, so to say. Maybe being able to see the sort of work that people are doing around the world has inspired me to want more from the roles I do. Maybe it is time to spread my wings."
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