Sheheryar Munawar Siddiqui and Syra Yousuf made an appearance on Time Out With Ahsan Khan to talk about their work together, including their recent sultry photoshoot, lives off-screen, and struggle with mental health.
After working together in Project Ghazi in 2019, the duo has recently worked together in Sinf-e-Aahan. However, Project Ghazi did not run well in cinemas and was pulled out soon after its release. Commenting on that, Shehryar said, “It was the first time someone experimented with computer graphics and superheroes on a film level, and hence that didn’t turn out how we expected. It was Humayun Saeed’s call to pull it back.”
However, recalling a scene from the movie, Sheheryar commented on Syra's "magical smile." Being awe-struck, he said, "When she smiles, it's either if she's awkward or she's interested in you. When I was working with Syra, I thought 'Okay, I like her, she's good.' But, the day she wore the uniform, I had a real-life filmy moment. Syra was wearing heels and a leather outfit [uniform] and she was running. I was running as well and I was [awe-struck]."
Sheheryar spoke up about how difficult it was shooting at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, Abbottabad. “As actors, it is easy to recreate being an army officer but it was a different experience altogether training and living at the academy itself. The longest I stayed there was for 32 days and with the army’s regimented routine and rules, it was a task to comply and live there without your phone or social life.”
Syra’s longest score of surviving at the PMA was 35 and sharing her fair share of difficult experiences, she said “They have so many rules on what to wear and where to sit. During shoots, we would be tired and they’d tell us, ‘so? You can’t just sit here. You’ve to keep going’ and we would all just look at each other helplessly and carry forward.”
Upon managing work and single motherhood, Syra said that “It doesn’t “feel like she’s doing it alone.” She said, “I have the support of my parents, my sisters and of course Nooreh’s dad.” She shared that her six-year-old daughter, Nooreh, stayed with her on Kakul’s set in PMA for five days. “She didn’t like it there at all. It was a very loud place with all the shootings and rigorous training and she would just come to me and complain about it. ‘Don’t they know a kid needs sleep?’”, shared Syra. She then coordinated with Shehroz Sabzwari, her ex-husband, and he managed it from there.
Previously on the same show, Shehroz revealed that they have a routine set where Nooreh visits her dad on weekends. On that, Syra elucidated that the routine is banished now. “As she’s growing up, she just tells me when she wants to visit her dad and she goes.”
She expanded on their co-parenting method, and said, “Co-parenting is very important because whatever happens, we as grownups, we can manage. But for the kid, you have to keep all your ego and inhibitions aside and take care of the kid. And that’s what we are doing.”
Moving onto Sheheryar’s body of work, in the past few years, he took a five-year break from television and mostly worked behind the camera directing commercials and producing films. He has produced Ho Mann Jahaan and Parey Hut Love, while acting in them as well, both of which are directed by Asim Raza.
“When people say I do less work, they do not realise that I work off-camera too. I’ve directed commercials, produced films and acted on screen as well so it was all a calculated move.”
Upon which medium is the most popular with the audience, Sheheryar agreed that television is the most preferred medium in Pakistan. “Since I took a five-year gap from drama serials, it was very difficult to stay relevant in the industry with just one film coming out in two years or so. People prefer the regularity and the relatable drama television offers but God has been kind to me so far, and I have returned to the silver screen once again.”
On consistently working with Asim Raza, Sheheryar shared that he gave him his start. “After graduating, my first job apart from corporate was an assistant director at Vision Factory Films with Asim Raza. He is my mentor, my guru and I always look forward to working with him. However, I do not selectively just work with him. I recently worked with Nadeem Baig and Nabeel Qureshi, and it was a great experience.”
While Sheheryar’s work is inspiring and sounds sorted with a clear vision, he went through a rather tough period during Covid. He got into an accident, gained a ton of weight, and the lack of work and mobility threw him into a depressive episode.
“I was an adrenaline junkie. I loved HIIT workouts, hiking, adventures, and bike rides and my accident limited all of that for me. There were adrenaline withdrawals, and then work was paused and that brought an unhopeful uncertainty that I couldn’t deal with.”
Expanding on that, Sheheryar, addressing the audience, emphasised the importance of asking for help in tough times. He said, “Whenever you’re going through a hard time, it may seem extremely difficult to talk and that’s because we are scared of not making sense, but trust me, once you manage the courageous task of talking, it gets better. That’s what I did, I asked for help and recovered from it a much stronger person, with a much-needed spiritual cleanse.”
About the sultry photoshoot, Syra had a very diplomatic response. She went with the classic “everyone is entitled to their opinion” answer and said, “Those who liked our ‘sultry’ photoshoot probably understood the creativity behind it. For those who did not, it is okay. But that photoshoot, in my opinion, was a brilliant masterpiece by Rizwan Haq.”
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